Ere we go, Pluz Ultra!
by Unseen Lurker
Summary: Sometimes, small things can have unforeseen consequences. Like the butterfly causing an hurricane. Or the nail costing a war. Or the snotling messing around where he shouldn't causing the rise of a different kind of hero... "Awigt den, come have a go, ya gits! Waaaaagggghh!"
1. Chapter 1

_**Howdy folks, how's it going?**_

 _ **So, here I am, with a new, and probably quite bizarre, tale to tell. Why a new story, some of you might be wondering?**_

 _ **Well, to be honest, I have grown quite fond of the BNHA series as of late, and have been considering quite a few ideas for stories in in this universe for a while now. I even got my buddy Chaos Productions into it, and many of our discussions lately have been on this topic. Then I recalled an old story idea of his, wondered how it'd go if transplanted into this setting, asked him whether he'd mind if I gave it a whirl, and here we are.**_

 _ **As always, a massive shout out to him for being such a bro.**_

 _ **For more information, check at the end of the chapter.**_

 _ **Also, obviously, I don't own either BNHA or Warhammer 40k. If I did, Izuku and Tsuyu would be dating in the former and the Deathguard would be loyalists in the later.**_

 _ **Now, without further ado, enjoy the beginning of 'Ere we go, Pluz Ultra!**_

 _ **/**_

"I wuldn't go see him if I wuz you…" The weirdboy rambled through his shroom induced haze, green lightning beginning to crackle in his eyes and making the lads all around restless.

Torug promptly headbutted the lightshow out of the little git, sending him flying across the room.

"But ye ain't me." The Warboss said. "Zoggin' Weirdboyz…"

If you weren't careful, they could make a mess all over the place with their big exploding heads. Fortunately, Torug Facebashah knew well how to keep them in line. Throwing a glare around the room to make sure nobody else felt like getting uppity, the towering ork turned and walked out the door with a grunt, the vents of his mega armor hissing out smoke and the pistons working steadily as he crossed a hall filled with statues of some 'umie or other, each and every one of them wrecked and redecorated in the right and proper orky way, with red paint and the skulls and helmets of the krumped foes.

Not too long ago, this had been a 'umie world, one of them places where the 'umies gathered around other 'umies in tall hats that would read books to tell them what to do. Personally, Torug never understood why 'umies would listen to a piece of paper, but they were stupid like that.

He had to give them credit though, when the space hulk he and his lads had been on had crash landed in this world of green plains and big fancy white cities, the 'umies had put up a good fight. It might be stupid, but if the gits with tall hats told them to fight hard, they fought hard and then some. Still got right proper krumped of course, they were up against orks and sadly no spess mehrines had shown, but it had still been great sport after how long that trip through the warp had taken.

So now, the planet belonged to the orks. The cities had been ransacked, everything that wasn't nailed down had been taken, and the 'umies who hadn't been krumped had been put to work on everything from helping the snotlings tend to the shroom farms to target practice. 'Umies were versatile like that, Torug had to give them that too.

But the fun could only last so long. There had been no more 'umies worth krumping for a while now, and the boys were getting jittery. Torug himself was rather confused. You'd think wrecking a 'umie world right and proper would've had the spess mehrines and other hardier 'umies rushing to come have a go, but it had been nearly a month so far and nobody had shown up. The pansies!

By the third time during that period a git had accused him of not leading the lads properly and got readily krumped for voicing opinions, Torug had decided that something had to be done. And it was roughly at that exact same time that the Big Mek of his warband had put forth an interesting idea.

If the zogging sissy 'umies didn't want to come get their planet back, why not take the planet to them? Then the 'umies would _have_ to at least try, it was only proper.

It was zogging genius, so Torug had immediately told the git to get to work.

And now he was headed to his workshop, because he really needed to know _what was the zogging hold up?!_

As Torug walked deeper and deeper into the depths of the fortress, less and less of the 'umie stuff could be seen, and more and more pipes and plates and gears and cables. Pretty soon, the path the Warboss had been taking opened up into an absolutely massive chamber, with pipes and exhaust vents and hydraulics and sorts of techy things he preferred to leave to the mekboyz, all of it salvaged from the space hulk and whatever ships and gizmos the 'umies had lying around, and all repurposed for proper orkish teknologee, the darkness of the chamber offset by the intermittent green glow of the massive, coiling metal tower smack dab in the middle of the room. The Warboss blinked at the thing, it was like somebody built a force field generator big enough to fit a gargant.

And moreover, the faint tingling that had been growing in the back of his head was now a steady pressure, weighing down on him like someone had added more weight to his mega armor.

Even Torug could feel that the Waaagh was strong here. No wonder that weirboy had been getting all worked up…

He stopped walking when he felt something under his foot give way with a squeak and a crunch. Glancing down, the Warboss gave a disgusted sneer as he realized he had just stomped on a snotling. Stupid little gits, good for nothing but doing chores and being annoying. Why the Big Mek liked to keep them around was beyond the larger ork…

"Gritaz!" Torug bellowed, absent-mindedly scraping the snotling's remains off his foot on a nearby pipe. "I know you'ze dere! Show yerself, ya scrawny git!"

His call echoed in the large chamber, and shortly after a loud clank of metal on metal was heard. Grots and some more snotlings seemed to appear of every little corner, checking the cables and prodding the valves. Then with another metallic clank, the git he'd been looking for fell from the ceiling.

Gritaz Steelfingahs was a scrawny git for an ork, still capable of snapping a 'umie's neck easy, but scrawny. Between that, how his eyes didn't work so well since that run in with the shiny metal boys with their fancy lightning shootas and how that geen stealah had chopped off his legs back when they'd first gotten to the space hulk he doesn't even remember how zogging long ago, Torug had expected him to have been made part of the menu shortly after that.

But what the git lacked in strength, he had made up for in a sneaky cunning and zogging good skills as a mekboy. Any other git who had tried to stomp him down had quickly found themselves talking to all 4 power klaws at the tips of the metal arms coming out of his back-mounted rig, the very same ones he now used to walk around like some crazy giant metal spider. More Morky than Gorky, Gritaz was good at building things, both of the buildy kind, and most importantly, the killy kind, so Torug had decided he was worth keeping around after all, even made him the Big Mek of the warband.

"Oh, hey, Boss!" Gritaz said, as his klaws held him off the ground (though careful to not put him higher than Torug), the green lenses of his inbuilt goggles contemplating the Warboss with an odd cheer as the blowtorch where his middle finger used to be died down. "Didn't hear ya comin'."

One of his snotling assistants, wearing a ridiculously oversized set of goggles like an incredibly loose belt, tried to get the mekboy's attention with a squeaky "Boss?", but was ignored by both orks.

"Wot'z dah zoggin' hol up, Gritaz?" Torug snapped impatiently, the serrated talons of his own power klaw clanking together as if in anticipation. "How much longer fer yer gizmo tah be ready to get this grotcrap of a planet movin'? Or am I gun have tah feed ya and yer lil' gits to dah squigs?"

"Boss?"

"Ah, yes." The mekboy nodded in understanding, a manically excited grin growing on his face as only a proper mekboy could. "Well, I haz great newz for ya den, Boss. The Waaagh Reactah is all but done! We'z just need tah try it out, and then build big rokkits tah be powered by it, and we'z gun have us an atak planet!"

"Boss?"

"Den wot you'ze waitin' fer? " The more massive ork grumbled with a decidedly un-orky level of calm, which was swiftly shattered by the room shaking bellow: "START DAH ZOGGIN' THING YA GIT!"

"Roit away, Boss!" The mekboy answered again with that annoying cheer, before turning to address the grots in the room. "Aight ladz, ya herd dah Boss! Man yer stashuns and lez get dis fing goin'!"

"Boss?"

Soon after, there was a a grot poking and prodding at every valve, making some last-minute connections at every cable, while Gritaz manned a console salvaged from one of them 'umie ships, Torug observing from behind him.

"Boss?"

"Aight, den." The mekboy said with a sudden, intense look of concentration, a small spark of green flashing through his eye goggles... "Waaagh levels be stable, all vents be at full capacity, powah output at ezpected levels… We'z all set. Hol' on to yer mega armor, Boss, cuz _'ERE WE GO!_ "

"Boss?"

… And he promptly smashed the big red button at the center of the console. Loud hisses of blowing steam and the ponderous groaning of gears followed as the machine whirred into life. The whole chamber trembled as the metal spire within started crackling with ever more green light and electricity.

Suddenly, every ork, grot and snotling on the planet turned their heads in the direction of the chamber, all of them feeling the growing Waaagh presence that came from it. And Torug… As he gazed at it all, the Warboss had never seen anything so zogging beautiful.

This was it. _This_ was the break that he and his lads needed. With this reactah, he could turn this entire zogging planet into a a fortress that'd fly through the galaxy. Entire tribes and warbands would flock to their banner looking for the promise of a proper scrap. Soon, they'd have a Waaagh rolling, and bring the galaxy to its knees.

Waaagh Facebashah… Torug sure liked the sound of that…

"Booooooooooossssssssss…?"

The orks' temper flared.

" _WOT?!"_ They screamed in unison, turning toward the little snot, and Gritaz then added. "Wotwotwotwotwot _WOT?!_ Wot da zog is so impurtent dat you gotta keep annoyin' us liek dis at the moment of mah biggest achivmunt?!"

Completely unaware of the danger that it was in in the presence of two very annoyed orks, the snotling proceed to raise whatever it was that it had been holding for them to see.

"Look, look!" It said with eager excitement. "Shiny!"

…

…

…

It was indeed shiny, the small piece of metal the snotling was holding.

"Wait…" Gritaz said, his eye goggles flashing green for a second in confusion. "Wot'z dah main sprocket doing not inside dah main engine…?"`

His question was answered by the sudden blaring of klaxons, red alarm lights joining the green of the Waaagh in lighting up the suddenly shaking chamber. Valves burst all around them, steam hissing furiously and boiling whatever grots and snotling were too close, even as the others made panicked dashes out of the room. The monitor on the console, where the "Waaagh Levels" counter was, had jumped from "Good" straight to "ALL DAH WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" before fritzing out and catching on green fire.

In fact, everything in the chamber was starting to go _very_ green…

"…Oh zog."

And those were the final words of Warboss Torug Facebashah and Big Mek Gritaz Steelfingahs as the Waaagh Reactor suffered a catastrophic malfunction and exploded. Violently.

The chamber, the fortress, the city, the continent, the planet, the solar system and a reasonable chunk of the sector suddenly disappeared in a flash of green so bright that it shone even throughout the warp, pressing down upon the minds of many a psyker throughout the galaxy.

However, as quickly as it had appeared, all the rampant Waaagh energy suddenly… disappeared, fading as if it had never been.

Whatever warp sensitive minds there were that were drawn by curiosity at the strange phenomenon, however, knew that an amount of psychic energy that massive could not have just disappeared.

It had to have gone _somewhere_.

/

Katsuki Bakugou had no idea what the fuck was going on.

There they'd been, him and the two dumbasses whose names he could barely be bothered to recall, showing some other shitty extra just where their place was, when as always, shitty Deku just _had_ to step in.

"S-stop it, K-Kacchan." He had whined, standing between them and the other kid, clearly terrified and still acting like they were anywhere on the same league, always with that pitying, _infuriating_ look. "C-can't you see he's crying? That is n-not what heroes do…"

Whatever else the little nerd was saying was lost to Katsuki as the explosive boy let anger and outrage smother the begginings of that nagging feeling he never understood and thus despised. Deku was nothing, it was in the name. Useless, weak, pitiful, quirkless. How dare he lecture him? How _dare_ he judge him like he was less than the little shit?

Letting a dangerous smirk grow on his face, Katsuki had been quick to challenge the little shit to put his money where his mouth was, and was just about to beat into him just how fucking _worthless_ he was again…

…When the other boy suddenly gasped, fell to his knees, and grasped at his head while crying out in pain. The shift was so sudden, the wail of agony so _genuine_ , that even Katsuki hesitated, the two other extras even backing away in alarm, the gutless shits, all three of them watching what was happening as if entranced.

Things got weird after that.

As Deku kept screaming, tears beginning to trail down his face, a strange pressure seemed to press down upon the playground. For the briefest of moments, the entire world seemed to tremble, as sparks of… green lightning?… begun to crackle all around the boy.

And then suddenly the day turned green, as if emerald lenses had been put over Katsuki's eyes.

The three bullies looked up in confusion, and saw there, strange green lights weaving around the cloudless skies, dyeing the world in tones of that same color, intensifying in tune to the crescendo of Deku's screams. A small part of Katsuki's mind, remembering something he had seen on tv the other day, went 'Aurora Borealis…? Here…?'

Then, as suddenly as it had happened, all the green lights disappeared. The pressure stopped, Deku went silent, and the world seemed to resume its normal pace.

Breathing raggedly, dazed, and unbalanced, the green-haired boy unsteadily got back to his feet, eyes clamped shut, shaking his head as if trying to brush off the dizziness, his hair suddenly sporting highlights in several lighter shades of green.

And despite whatever had been going on between the two boys, despite whatever he might think of the little shit, Katsuki still couldn't help but quietly ask:

"…Deku?"

Those eyes opened with a flash of green, and when that died down, there was only blood red glaring at him.

"WWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

The abrupt bellow was so unlike anything Deku had ever done before that Katsuki couldn't help but freeze up, barely even registering how the other kid was charging at him. And before he could even begin to make sense of what the fuck just happened, the dirty blond boy suddenly found himself on the ground, feeling a lot of pain in his face and stars floating at the edge of his vision. What the fu-?

A voice he recognized as one of his tagalongs cried out in pain, and when his sight cleared, he saw Deku drop-kicking the winged fatso from the air, long-fingers also on the ground, crying and grasping at a clearly injured hand. Slowly, the blond boy reached for his face, and winced at the pain the touch caused around his right eye…

…

…

…He had punched him.

 _Deku had fucking punched him!_

Whatever confusion, shock, and concern Katsuki would never admit to have felt there had been melted away before the searing rage the simple conclusion ignited, and with a wrathful shout, the explosive boy joined the fray. But unlike every other time before, Deku met him head on, with a savage grin on his face and that weird bellow on his lips.

/

The day had been going averagely well for Inko Midoriya, as she prepared a lunch for two while waiting for her son to return from his little playground run. Then it got a bit weird when everything had turned green for a few moments. Could someone out there be trying to pull a prank with heir quirk?

And then it took a turn for the frightening when her boy returned and she saw the state he was in, not quite being able to stop herself from a panicked:

"Izuku!"

The poor woman nearly had a heart attack. It was a sadly not entirely uncommon occurrence for her special little guy to come back home bearing a few bruises, or even a burn or two every once in a while, things that tore at her heart when her son soldiered on through them, refusing to give her a straight answer on what happened, always with an excuse at the ready when he couldn't dodge the subject.

But this… This was beyond anything that had happened before.

Her son had returned home, clearly limping, battered, beaten, his shirt in tatters, and covered in cuts, bruises and minor burns that no amount of playing around or roughhousing among kids would justify.

Her little Izuku had been in a serious fight, plain and simple.

After the initial motherly panic faded, however, and Inko had returned from the bathroom with the first-aid kit, she noticed something was different.

All the other times, her son would try to soldier on, to fight of falling tears while trying rather unsuccessfully to ease her worries with a smile as fragile as glass, and it _always_ tore at her heart to seem him like that…

But this time, the excited, cheery, thousand-watt grin on his face was _genuine_ , as her son looked up at her with excited red eyes (when had _that_ happened…?) and all but yelled:

"It'z awight, Mah! I went down' foitin'! I'z gun stomp'em good next time!"

Inko Midoriya had absolutely no idea what to make of that.

/

"…But who am I kidding?" The teacher said to his class, throwing the papers he was supposed to be handing out up in the air in jubilation. "You wall want to be heroes right!?"

The rhetorical question was met with a wave of cheers from all the students in the classroom, all of them making a show of their quirks as if in celebration.

All except for the blonde, boisterous teen that immediately launched on a rant about being compared to the rest of the class and on how he was going to be the greatest hero, like no one ever was, much to the aggravation of his peers. And the green-haired teen, sitting at the back corner of the room, the furthest from the window, who seemed to not be paying any attention at all to the world around him. In fact, a closer inspection by the teacher made him realize that this second boy was fiddling with something metallic, poking and prodding at what seemed to be a cartridge of some sort with the heated tip of a small, needle like length of metal.

A professional side of the teacher made him think that this was hardly an appropriate time and place to be handling such materials. A curious side made him wonder were had he even gotten the items from. And a final, sane and absolutely _done_ with everything side of him, born from years of experience and exposure to the boy, cautioned that any sort of reprimand was useless when it came to Midoriya, and so with a weary sigh the teacher defaulted to the safest route and proceeded to ignore it.

Probably the best thing about the upcoming entry exams was the promise of how the green-haired teen was soon going to stop being the school's and more importantly _his_ problem. Many people within the field of education would likely be appalled at this rather unprofessional opinion of his, but then again, those people had _never_ dealt with Midoriya.

Speaking of, the man grabbed the records, to check whoever were going to be the poor bastards that were going to have to deal with _that_ calamity next-

…Oh no.

"…Midoriya's also applying for UA?" The man couldn't help but breathe out in horror, face suddenly ashen at the terrifying prospect of the madness that loomed on the horizon.

The room went silent. Every single student slowly, very slowly, turned towards the boy in question as if fearing that the mere mention of his name would trigger something terrible. Midoriya, for his part, just kept poking and prodding at his contraption, until the dreadful quiet seemed to finally register in his mind, making the boy look up, red eyes blinking owlishly as he looked around in confusion.

"…What?"

And it was at this point that the teacher finally realized his mistake because-

"Deku!" Bakugou ground out, approaching the boy's seat with sparks crackling out of his hands even as he glared venomously at the other teen. "What the fuck are you playing at, trying to go for a place like UA?! You really think a crazy piece of shit like _you_ would stand a chance?!"

-Of course the "rising star" of the school would not take it lying down. Sure, Bakugou had the talent and the drive to make it big in the world and the faculty staff may or may not have gone out of their way to overlook some of his less savoury aspects in order to reap some of the benefits from riding on the boy's coattails, but dammit all, why did _nobody_ but him and the rest of the class seem to realize that these two were like gunpowder and a lit fuse? Putting them anywhere near each other was a _horrible idea!_

And sure enough, to the growing panic of everyone else present, Midoriya's look of confusion quickly gave way to a worryingly excited grin.

"Ooooooohhh? You wanna foit, 'Splody boy?" The teen asked with almost childish cheer, hand slowly reaching for his pocket, a movement that had everyone else slowly backing away and even Bakugou hesitating, if only for a second, teeth grinding in fury even as his hands were raised, crackling and smoking.

The tension in the air as the two teens squared off was thick enough you could cut it with a knife.

"T-that's enough!" The teacher, suddenly remembering his voice, all but screamed, desperate to disarm the incoming calamity. "Boys, s-stop it this instant! We do not need _another_ wrecked classroom on the school's budget! Need I remind you that such r-reckless quirk usage will be held against you in your applications?"

That last, almost pleading question seemed to do the trick. With enormous reluctance and a lot of dirty glaring, Bakugou stood down, tsk'ing in attempted dismissiveness before returning to his seat, while Midoriya did the same with a shrug and a mildly disappointed grunt, going back to whatever the hell it was that he had been working on.

Everyone around breathed a sigh of relief, and none more so than the teacher. Another disaster barely averted. He _really_ wasn't getting payed enough for this shit.

/

The end of the school day found Izuku returning home, still working on his little project as he went. Whether the way he managed to avoid ramming into walls and people, tripping over anything or crossing a street with a red light on while his eyes never left the small object in his hands was indicative of a great deal of special awareness, a great deal of familiarity with a very trodden route, a massive amount of dumb luck or any combination of the three was anyone's guess. And he proceeded like this, all but dead to the world around him, up until he reached the overpass he crossed daily on the way home. There, under the shadow of the road, as if a switch had been flicked, the green-haired boy halted, and stopped prodding at the gizmo in his hands, with a few blinks giving it a small inspection.

"…It's done!" He ultimately declared out loud, a satisfied grin on his face at a job well done even as he put the gadget back in his pocket.

"Yes it is, kid."

Blinking in confusion, Izuku stared down at his feet, which had just been smothered by some brownish-green, slimy substance. A slimy substance that was rising.

"What…?"

"How lucky of me-" The gurgling voice the boy realized was coming from the slime said nastily, with a hints of relief and sadism in its tone, as eyes and a large, twisted mouth sprouted from the substance in the twisted mockery of a face. "To find a meat cloak just as I was being chased by _that_ guy. Don't try to fight me, kid. Just lookin' for a place to hide. It'll hurt for a bit but then you'll feel-"

The slimy villain had expected a few reactions from this latest victim out of personal experience. Paralyzed terror, a lot of horrified screaming, desperate and ultimately futile struggles to break free…

The kid reaching into his still goop-free pocket and _pulling out a fucking big ass gun_ hadn't been one of them.

"What the fu-?!"

"SNEAK' UP ON ME, WILL YA?! WAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!"

/

He was getting old, All Might found himself thinking ruefully, old and sloppy.

In the good old days, at the peak of his illustrious career as the greatest hero, he would have caught a small fry like this in his sleep, and taken seconds at worst to do it too. But that had been before… before _that_ fight, before the crippling injuries, the countless surgeries that had saved his life at the cost of leaving him a shadow of his former self, forced him to only take on the mantle of the Symbol of Peace on a way too short and ever decreasing time limit. For years now, he had known on an intellectual level that eventually he'd not be able to go on like this, that he'd have to give in, to retire and find someone else to pass on the mantle to, but now the notion was truly starting to sink in.

It was a sobering thought, and one that wrang hauntingly in the back of his mind as he found himself running through the sewers, straining to keep up with the mugger that thought to evade him.

Then he heard the indistinct yell, and the ensuing gunfire.

Could the villain have been carrying some firearm he hadn't noticed and using it to threaten a civilian?!

His depressing, self-deprecating thoughts were instantly smothered by the ever-present, constant urge to _protect_ , and so All Might surged forward, jumping out the manhole cover the smile traces led him to with his reassuring grin and trademark catchphrase-

"DO NOT FEAR! FOR I AM-"

…Only to stop short at the scene before him.

Of the villain looming over a young, green-haired boy (not threateningly, a perceptive side of his mind noted. With cautious surprise, clearly off guard…), the boy himself holding a strangely designed weapon (self-defence, probably panicked given the volume of gunfire he'd heard…) staring at him with bright crimson eyes open so wide they threatened to spill out of his sockets.

"Ooooooooaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh…" The boy breathed out in awe. "All Might's here!?"

Snapping out of his momentaneous confusion, All Might burst into action, and a fast, well-applied Missouri Smash at the base of what passed for the staggered villain's head incapacitated the crook long enough to be restrained in the plastic bottles he'd been carrying for just that purpose.

That task accomplished, the hero then turned to the boy, fully intent on apologizing for letting him get caught up in this-

-When he found said boy inches away from him, a pen and notebook in his hands as he stared up at him with bright, crimson eyes filled with that excited spark the hero was quick to recognize.

"ALL MOIGT!" The boy yelled excitedly. "YOU'Z HERE! I'Z YER BIGGEST FAN! YOU'Z TOTALLY STOMPED DAT GIT GOOD WIV'DAT SMASH, T'WAZ THE COOLEST FING I EVAH SEEN UP CLOSE! CAN I HAZ YER AUTOGRAPH?!"

The hero couldn't help but blink at the exuberant praise, a small part of his mind wondering how the boy managed to speak Japanese with such a heavy, cockney-like accent and still manage to make himself vaguely understood. Still, he couldn't help but chuckle at the puppy-like excitement, seems like he had come across a fanboy.

"Ahahah, of course! " He laughed is trademark laugh as he obliged the boy with a signature (what a heavily scribbled, barely legible notebook…), and to his growing amusement the boy seemed over the moon at it. "I am glad to see that you're fine, young man. My apologies! I generally don't let civilians get caught up in my work, but this villain was giving me some trouble."

"Yeah, dah git tried tah be all sneaky sneak-like on me before you'z showed up. I showed'im good tho!"

"I suppose you did, young man. But regarding that-" All Might crouched down briefly, grabbing the weird gun the kid had dropped in his excitement. "Where did you get this… weapon from, young- actually, what's your name?"

"Oh, I'm Izuku!" The boy replied, that strange accent fluctuating weirdly, after a brief mutter that sounded suspiciously like 'All Might wants to know _my_ name!' "And dah shoota? I made it!"

Blinking at the words, All Might gave the weapon a once-over. It was a clunky contraption, straight out of one of those ancient post-apocalyptic movies he could vaguely recall, big enough he could confortably wield it one handed (which had him wandering how the boy managed the same) and although All Might wasn't by any means an expert, it seemed haphazardly built.

"You… made this, Young Izuku?"

"Ahuh!" The boy confirmed, nodding excitedly. "You see, I want to be a hero just like you, but me quirk dun make me capable of smashin' errythin' like yerz does, so I build gizmos to make up for it!"

Uh, so the boy wanted to be a hero?

"…I see." All Might said at length, briefly unsure of how to proceed, then nearly recoiled as he felt the familiar feeling of blood rising up his throat. Damn, he was running out of time, he'd have to rush things here.

"Well, Young Izuku, normally I shouldn't condone the usage of such measures." He couldn't help but feel a bit like he kicked a puppy at the suddenly downcast look on the boy's face. "However, given how it was clearly self-defence, I will let the matter lie, provided you let me confiscate the thing?"

"Uh, you want to take the shoota?" The boy blinked, face set in a reluctant, undecided frown, before he eventually relented with a sigh. "Sure, go right ahead."

"Very well. Now then, I must be off, still need to deliver this villain to the proper authorities after all. Farewell, Young Izuku, and good luck on your path to being a hero. I have no doubt that you can do it!"

The look on the boy's face at those words, was like the Christmases and birthdays of the next 10 years had just come early.

"THANK YOU'Z, ALL MOIGT! I WUN'T LET YA DOWN!"

With a nod and a laugh, the hero proceeded to leap out of the scene, but even from the distance, All Might could still hear the cry of 'BEST. DAY. EVAH!'

What a weird kid he had come across.

/

A quick drop by the police station and a mad dash later, the number 1 hero landed himself in an alley, took a minute to make sure nobody was watching, and allowed himself to deflate, going from tall, strong, easily recognizable All Might to tall, skeletal, only really conspicuous in how creepily emaciated he looked Toshinori Yagi, and promptly coughed up a decidedly unhealthy amount of blood.

After that however, he was quick to leave the alley and move towards his destination. His latest bout of heroics has already made him late for this appointment, and just the thought of what the fallout of that would be made his stride all the more hasty.

And very soon after that, the man found himself at his destination, crossing the entrance arc with no fuss, and taking a moment to gaze upon the large walkway lined with the busts of renowned heroes (he could see himself further ahead, and it flustered him despite himself.) leading up to the large, glassy building towering before him.

"UA Highschool." Toshinori muttered, a wave of nostalgia washing over him. "It has been quite a while…"

"Indeed, it has."

The unexpected reply from a very familiar voice had the tall man nearly jumping out of his skin, before looking down to a very familiar, not human figure.

"P-principal Nezu." The man sputtered, trying his damnest to not let his mild panic show. "Apologies, I didn't see you there!"

"That is me!" The short, sharply dressed, white-furred being with an ambiguous phylogenetic background replied cheerily. "And it's quite alright, Yagi-san. Though I must wonder why the Number 1 Hero has left me to wait at our humble high school's entrance quite a bit past the appointed meeting time."

"Ah, well, you see…" Toshinori replied, picking his words _very_ carefully, knowing full well what giving Nezu an inch would result in. "I am afraid that I was… occupied with a small altercation today. Nothing serious, I assure you, but, you know, I couldn't just stand by and watch when I saw villainy occur right in front of me."

The Principal's small beady eyes seemed to bore into the pro hero's very core, and the man could do little but sweat nervously as the other man considered the words.

"Yes, I can understand why that'd be the case." Nezu replied at length, always with that cheery tone. "I would admonish your inability to delegate and happily provide a few pointers, but alas, we're on a schedule as it is…"

Toshinori just barely managed to avoid a sigh of relief.

"Which is why we shall leave that for another time."

Shit, it was too good to be true…

"For now, however." The Principal continued, as if completely unaware of Toshinori's nervousness, which the man knew was a damn lie. "Let us go to my office and handle the necessary paperwork."

With that, the little critter about turned and walked in the building's direction, and Toshinori followed.

/

A couple of hours and a shitload of paperwork later had Toshinori not even bothering to mask the sigh of relief this time.

"And with that, I think everything's settled." Nezu said, as he gave the pile of the papers in question one last check. "It might not be official until the next school year, but regardless, welcome back to U.A, Yagi-san, I do hope your time as a teacher here will be as fruitful as your time as a student."

The emaciated man knew there was a lot of hidden meaning in the Principal's words, but for now he decided to overlook it, replying only with a nod.

"Now then," The mouse-like critter continued. "How about a small tour of the place? Quite a few things have changed since the last time you were here, and though it's a school day you might even meet some of your future co-workers."

"That sounds like a great idea." Toshinori replied, he was feeling quite curious if he was being honest.

"If you'd follow me then!" Nezu said as he got off the seat, and once more Toshinori followed.

For the next hour or so, he was shown around the campus, everywhere from the main building's classrooms (still exactly as he remembered them.), to the cafeteria (a phantom pang where his stomach used to be had him mourning for all the delicious foods he wasn't capable of eating anymore…) to all the training facilities available to the students ( _much_ larger and more elaborate than they'd been in his time. The attention to detail in those pretend city blocks was staggering…), and all in all, Toshinori could not help but feel both incredibly nostalgic, and a tad bit overwhelmed.

He had come to U.A for a teaching position with a _very_ specific goal in mind, but even now he couldn't help but nervously wonder if his own rather… unorthodox academic journey would lend itself well to teaching the next generation of heroes. If nothing else, he took a small bit of comfort in the thought that if Nezu didn't say anything against it, it probably meant the Principal had some faith in him. Probably.

"Now then." The furry being was in the process of saying. "To cap off this tour, let me show you to the teacher's lounge. We'll see if anyone's there now."

"Other than Recovery Girl, are they aware of my… condition?" Toshinori couldn't help but ask with some worry, which he felt was justified given how important this particular secret was.

"Indeed they are. Rest assured though, all the U.A's faculty staff are pro heroes that I can vouch for. And you've met a few of them on occasion, so I believe you got nothing to worry about." Was the assurance he received, which he decided to accept.

With that, Nezu opened the door to the lounge, a quaint little place with a few couches, where there were currently only two people, one familiar to Toshinori, the other only known by reputation, both turning to see who had just entered.

"Well, I'll be darned." The first man, donning a cowboy outfit complete with spurs, wide-brimmed hat with an inscribed "S" and an accessory gas mask said as he got up from the couch. "If it ain't All Might. How ya doin'?"

"Ah, Snipe, it has been a while." Toshinori replies with a grin. "Eight months since that kidnapping villain in Tokyo, right?"

"Aye, a mighty big mess that was if I do say so myself." The man replied with a tip of his hat. "I still owe ya a drink for yer part in it. Good thing ya'll gonna be joining our merry crew, it'll allow me to settle that debt."

"I'll be looking forward to it." The emaciated blond replied, and turned the other man, a hunched over redhead wearing a huge yellow helmet faintly reminiscent of a weird mix between a dinosaur and a backhoe. "I don't believe we've met, but you must the the Excavation Hero: Power Loader, correct?"

"That's right." The man replied with a nod, leaving Toshinori wondering how could he actually move his head with that thing on it. "I oversee the development studio and the support course classes. Welcome aboard."

"Thank you. I hope I'll fit in well." Toshinori replied, then looked around. "Is it just the two of you here?"

"For now, yeah." Snipe replied. "My classes in gen-ed are done for the day, Power Loader's takin' a small break before headin' to lock up the studios. Mic, Midnight, Cementoss, Ectoplasm and Vlad King are still wrapping up their own classes, and Eraserhead, well…" He turned to Nezu. "I think he was actually headed to see ya, Boss, something about expulsions that needed to happen…"

"Indeed?" The Principal inquired, joining the conversation he had been glad to allow to develop so far. "I cannot fault him for his logic, but still… How many this time?"

"Uh, pretty sure he said somethin' 'bout an entire class…" Was Snipe's reply, to which the mouse-like creature sighed.

"I… take it that's not an unusual occurrence?" Toshinori couldn't help but ask awkwardly.

"I swear." The Excavation Hero grumbled with a shake of his head. "That man can't go a week without expelling anyone."

"I will talk to him about it later." Nezu assured with a wave of his paw. "For now, however, I believe that would conclude the tour. Do you have any questions, Yagi-san?"

"Uuuuuuhhh, nothing that I can't learn by myself in the next few months, I believe…" Toshinori considered, but then a thought came to mind. "Oh, I do actually have something I could use your input on, Snipe, Power Loader, although not related to the school."

The two men perked up curiously at that, as Toshinori went for the backpack he'd been carrying.

"You see, earlier today, I was chasing after a villain made of slime who had been mugging people near a residential area. I lost him for a brief moment, and in that time he tried to take a young man as a hostage. The young man however, surprised him and used this in self-defence." Here he took out the strange gun, now fitting poorly in his thin hand, and handing it over to the cowboy. "Claimed to have built it himself. What can you tell me about it?"

The hero took the thing in his hand, giving it a once over, before giving it over to Power Loader for him to make his own inspection. After a little while, the two gave each other a nod and turned back to Toshinori, who couldn't help but notice they seemed quite mystified.

"Ehrm, are you sure ya saw that right?" Snipe asked confusedly.

"Is… something wrong?"

"Only that this is a piece of junk." Power Loader replied gruffly, looking at the weapon distastefully. "The handle's from a hair dryer, the barrel's a couple of soda cans welded together, the receiver looks like it was made out of a _toaster_ , the ammo magazine seems to be part of a plastic vase, I am pretty sure there's Lego pieces keeping the whole thing together… It's just a bunch of random crap put together in a vaguely gun-like shape. Even the green paintjob is shoddy."

For emphasis, the Excavation Hero held the thing properly and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

"And even if it could _somehow_ fire." Snipe took over, his tone dubious. "The thing's so off balance, whoever used it wouldn't be able to hit the broad side of a barn much less aim properly. Are ya sure you saw it getting fired?"

"Uuuuhh… I didn't quite see it no." The skeletal man admitted. "When I got there, the boy had this aimed at the villain and the later was backing away, but I could've sworn I heard gunfire…"

"Well, not that I want to doubt ya or anything…" The gunslinging hero started hesitantly, rubbing the back of his head.

"But you must have been hearing things due to stress, cause there's no way this thing could fire." The helmeted redhead said as a final verdict, handing the contraption back to him.

"I see…" Toshinori replied at length, not quite able to mask his confusion. He had been so sure… "Thank you both for your input, then. Perhaps taking up the mantle of a teacher and easing up on hero work will be good for me if I am starting to make such mistakes."

Even as all of his business at U.A was concluded, however, as he said is farewells and the Principal escorted him back to the gate, Toshinori couldn't shake the feeling something wasn't right in this scenario.

/

It was dark by the time Toshinori had returned to the neighbourhood where he had taken up residence for the foreseeable future, and quite honestly, the man was quite looking forward to a little bit of rest. As he took a moment to wonder if there might be a store nearby where he might actually get to purchasing the groceries he'd been getting before the sludge villain interrupted, however, instincts born from a lifetime of fighting crime and villainy blared at him. He was being followed.

A discreet glance behind him showed three figures approaching quickly, not even bothering to be discreet about it. Toshinori veered off into a side street and picked up the pace trying to lose them, but whoever they were, they proved persistent, and paranoia began to creep into the hero's mind as he wondered who could have sent them after him, any thoughts of the possibility of _that_ person being quickly and violently squashed.

This game of cat and mouse proceeded for a little while longer, but alas, Toshinori was not all that familiar with the area yet, and eventually a hasty turn in the wrong street brought him into an alley, where the emaciated man knew he wouldn't have time to backtrack before whoever was following him caught up.

"Shit…" He grit out in frustration, as his pursuers finally did just that.

They were indeed a trio, now splitting off to clearly cut off his escape. A tall, muscled man with larger than average fists of a metallic sheen stood at his right. The wiry, pasty-white skinned woman with violet hair stood to his left, grinning at him with very sharp teeth. And right before him, a modest looking young man, in a hoodie, a pair of small horns jutting out of his forehead.

Toshinori wracked his mind, but try as he might, he couldn't remember ever meeting these people before. Why had they singled him out like this…?

"Hey there! You've been leading us on quite a chase, haven't you?" The horned crook asked with a friendly smile. "How's about you hand over your wallet and phone right now so we can avoid any further fuss?"

…

…

…

" _You've gotta be fucking kidding me…_ " Toshinori couldn't help but mutter in English, as he often did when he felt the need to curse. And who could blame him?

Was he, the Number One Hero, _the freaking Symbol of Peace_ , seriously getting singled out and mugged by a bunch of random lowlifes…?

"Oh?" The woman said in a taunting, hissing snicker. "You hear that, fellas? This guy thinks we're fucking kidding him."

"This is not a joke, no." The horned one clarified, speaking in an insultingly slow manner, as if he believed Toshinori to be an idiot. "Give us what you have, or we're going to have to get rough on you." As if to emphasize, the hulking crook cracked his knuckles in a threatening display.

Toshinori bristled at the implied threat. These morons had no idea who they were dealing with, but he'd be glad to show them…

Unfortunately, the emaciated man made another miscalculation, and as he tried to change his form to dispatch these thugs, a sudden spike of pain and a bout of bloody couching wracked his skeletal body.

" _Dammit all!_ " The man hissed, having all but forgotten he'd already gone past the time limit for the day and that forcing things would have long lasting consequences…

"Check it out!" That annoying harpy of a woman laughed out. "We haven't done anything yet and the old man is having a fit."

"And it's making us loose time, so I suppose we'll just have to do this the hard way." The horned one said, that taunting smile giving Toshinori the overwhelming urge to smash it off his face. "Get him."

The three thieves began to close in.

And for the first time ever since his younger day, finding himself cornered, alone, and with no way to fight back, Toshinori felt utterly helpless, _and he hated it so much dammit there had to be something he could-_

A yell in an oddly familiar voice suddenly pierced through the night, catching both him and his attackers by surprise.

"A GIT SEZ WOT?!"

"What-?"

The horned thug barely had the time to turn around and voice his surprise when a small figure was upon him with a bellowing war cry:

"WWWWWWAAAAAAGGGHHH!"

And Toshinori's eyed widened in recognition as young Izuku, come out of nowhere, slugged the man across the face so hard he fell with a heavy thud. Not satisfied, the young man proceeded to stomp his foot down on the man's stomach, causing him to gasp out a gurgled scream as he took a fetal positioning, groaning in agony.

With that surprise entrance, the boy glared at the other two thugs, with a wide, oddly cheery grin on his face. Now, having been in the hero business most of his life, Toshinori was an expert at smiling in the face of adversity, and at telling what people who did so were thinking. When he did it, it was meant to be a reassurance, to let those he was protecting know that he had arrived and everything was going to be alright. It was in his catchphrase, "I am here!".

This boy, though?

At this point, all his face screamed was "Bring it"…

"HOW'Z ABOUT YA GITS PICK ON SUMONE DAT CAN PUT UP A FOIGT?! LIEK ME!" The boy bellowed with just a hint of excitement, as if just to confirm the emaciated man's suspicions. "COME HAVE A GO DEN!"

A moment of silence followed, as both Toshinori and the two still standing thugs just stood there, blinded by the cheer reckless guts the kid has just shown. Then the woman seemingly snapped out of it, and with an outraged shriek, her jaw all but unhinged as she lunged at the boy. An almost panicking Toshinori still tried to shout a warning for the kid to watch out, but it turned out to be an unnecessary precaution, because the boy fearlessly charged back at the woman, and at the very last moment, ducked under her leaping frame and brought his leg up in a mule kick, the heel of his shoe meeting her jaw and slamming her mouth shut with a sickening _crunch_. She fell tumbling to the ground, shrieking in pain as she held the bloodied ruin of her maw.

"You little shit!" The last, burly man yelled hatefully, charging the kid with fist coming down like sledgehammers. The pavement cracked under the blows as the boy dodged one blow, then the other. The thug followed up with a bear hug that caught the kid off guard, picking him of the floor and straining his muscle to crush him in his grip. Toshinori looked on in horror as Izuku found himself at the crook's mercy.

"Not so tough now, are you, brat?" The man rumbled with a spiteful grin.

The grin faded however, when the kid's only response to the predicament was a deadpan stare, before he promptly swung his head back and _slammed_ it right into the man's face with a loud _smack._

Toshinori's eyes widened even further as the crook, a mountain of steely muscle over twice the boy's height, loosened his grip and slumped backwards into to the ground, knocked out cold.

"AN' STAY DOWN!"

The first two thieves, having recovered enough to unsteadily get up, seemed to finally decide this was more than they had bargained for, and each grabbing one arm of their fallen comrade, they proceeded to drag him away in a hasty if not particularly fast retreat.

"DATZ' ROIGT, ZOG ON OUTTA HERE! AND DUN COME BACK!" The boy bellowed after them, making the hapless thugs pick up the pace. Then, he turned to Toshinori, staring up at the lanky but towering man with big, wide red eyes.

…

"You alright?" He asked, all reckless boisterousness gone from his voice, giving place to a jarring, oddly innocent curiosity.

"Aaaahhh…" Toshinori hesitated, not sure what he should say. He had always been the one who rescued people. Being rescued was something he had never imagined would happen, and now that it did, in such an abrupt and unexpected manner to boot, he quite simply didn't know how to respond…

His bout of uncertainty, however, was interrupted by another bloody coughing fit, and he noticed the boy's eyes widening at this.

"You'ze bleedin'! We should get you to a hospital!" Izuku said, already reaching for his cell phone.

"No!" Toshinori was quick to shout in between coughs, startling his odd saviour. "Sorry, it's just… Hospitals are unnecessary, Young Izuku, this is not because of what just happened, just an illness I've been dealing with for years now. I am fine, I assure you."

The boy just stared, occasionally blinking in apparent confusion, standing still for a long enough time that Toshinori starts to feel really awkward.

"Hhhhmm, awight den." The boy finally said. "Come with me."

"What?"

"Yer comin' with me." The boy repeated, reaching to grab the man's wrist. "Back home we can at least get you checked. Come along now."

"My boy, I assure you that is quite une- _Holy shit!"_ The much taller man barely managed to avoid falling flat on his face, and he still stumbled, as the young man pulled him away from the alley (what a grip on this kid!), unheeding of his sputtered protests. Eventually realizing there'd be no slipping away from this, Toshinori reluctantly decided to go along, wondering what the hell did he just get himself into.

/

The kid had dragged him to an apartment complex not too far from where he'd been attacked. Without a care in the world and dragging the much taller man along all the while, the greenhead swiftly moved up the stairs and all but kicked a door open, leading Toshinori into a quaint, cosy little abode. A mouth-watering smell was in the air, coming from what was clearly the kitchen area, enough so that the emaciated man could feel the phantom pangs of hunger where his stomach had once been…

"Mah, I'z home!" Young Izuku called out into the house. "And I brought company!"

The activity he'd been hearing from the kitchen briefly ceased, and from the corner came a woman, very clearly the boy's mother given the similar soft, rounded features and green hair, though hers being pure dark green. She approached the entrance with a kind, soft smile that the man was fairly certain could've melted what was left of the polar ice caps with how much motherly warmth she could cram in it.

"Ah, Izuku, back from your little errand I see." She said fondly as her eyes met the boy, before shifting curiously over to the man her son had brought home. "And who might you be, sir?"

"Ah, well…I, that is…" Toshinori could not help but stammer awkwardly, still not any closer to figuring out what to do about his current situation than he'd been fifteen minutes ago.

"I found dis civilliun bein' mugged in an alley!" The boy saw fit to answer for him with a cheery grin. "I stomped dah gits good, but he was bleeding and didn't want to go to the hospital, so I brought him here instead."

"Oh, goodness. Then we had better get the poor man checked." The mother said, a sudden indulgent quality to her tone said poor man picked up on, as she glanced at him. "Be a dear and go grab the first aid kit, will you?"

"Sure fing!" Was the kid's enthusiastic reply as he finally let go of Toshinori's wrist and rushed out of sight behind the corner, leaving the two adults to stare at each other.

"Hello, I am Inko Midoriya. Nice to meet you,…?"

At the prodding pause, the hero seemed to finally find his voice.

"T-Toshinori Yagi." He replied awkwardly, growing increasingly more uncomfortable by the second at the almost knowing bend the woman's smile seemed to take as she considered his answer...

"Yagi-san, then. I do apologize for my son."

"Oh, oh, not at all!" The man replied, waving his arms in a desperate attempt to emphasize his point. "Y-young Izuku really _did_ save me from a spotty situation, please, he's not-"

"You misunderstand." She cut him off, her eyes twinkling with mirth. "I have no doubt Izuku stepped in to help you, it's just how he is. And it's _because_ of how he is that I apologize. I know he can be… a bit too much when you're not used to it."

Toshinori's mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to reply, but the woman's words and her disarming smile did a lot to ease the tension he was feeling.

"I suppose that is one way to look at it." He conceded with a weak chuckle. "He does seem like a good kid, though."

"Believe you me, he is the best." Inko said, and the way she had said it made it sound not like biased praise from a loving mother, but as a simple statement of fact. "Now, please do come in, Yagi-san. My son will be back shortly, and dinner is almost ready. You're our guest."

Toshinori startled at that.

"M-Midoriya-san, there's no need for- I couldn't possibly intru-" A bout of bloody coughing interrupted him once again. Dammit was _his own body_ out to get him today or what?!

"Nonsense, Yagi-san." She replied, smile unfaltering and tone completely dismissive of his concerns. "My son brought you here out of concern for your health and safety. You're our guest, and as good hosts we would see you properly fed and looked after before you leave. So please, do come in."

Toshinori really wanted to protest more, but he wasn't an idiot. The woman's smile and kindness were unchanged, but the words had a sheen to them that he recognized with some dread. And so like a good guest, the emaciated number 1 hero removed his shoes and followed his host inside.

/

A quick if awkward check-up, where he finally managed to get it through to them that yes, the bloody coughing was a regular issue and no, there was nothing they could do to help, later, Toshinori found himself sitting at a dinner table with the odd mother and son duo, as dinner was being served. It was, quite honestly, some of the most delicious food that had ever passed through his lips, even if didn't take more than a few nibbles here and there. He was quite grateful that the older Midoriya did not press the issue.

"So, then, Yagi-san." The woman in question inquired, barely acknowledging the depressing spectacle of her son savagely attacking the bowl of katsudon. "If it's not too much to ask, why were you in the streets when my son found you? What do you do for a living?"

That got the boy's attention, as he stopped his feral feeding to stare curiously at the man, sauce dripping down his chin.

"Ah, well…" The man hesitated, wondering how best to answer the delicate question. "You see, I am… in the middle of a transition of sorts, you could say. I have taken a teaching job here in Musutafu, and moved to a place not too far from here. Unfortunately, I am not too familiar with the area, so when those thieves targeted me I was not able to lose them."

"It was alright, though." The kid intervened. "I stomped'em good!"

"You did beat them quite handily, I will give you that, Young Izuku." Toshinori conceded, smiling despite himself at the boy's exuberance, before forcing his tone to become stern. "But what you did was also quite reckless. What if you had gotten hurt? And even if it was well-intentioned, don't you know your actions could be interpreted as vigilantism, my boy?"

The boy blinked at him in confusion.

"But vigilantism's about using your quirks to fight crime without a license, right? I dun need mah quirk tah stomp some stupid gits. And besides, isn't fighting the baddies so others don't have to kinda what heroes do?"

Toshinori couldn't help but spit take. He didn't know what sort of answer he had been expecting, but this earnest, confused question certainly _hadn't_ been it. He sat there for a long while, staring wide-eyed at the kid, jaw working but incapable of figuring out a comeback.

"Is… that why you want to be a hero?"

"Ahuh!" The boy nodded excitedly. "I wantz to be dah best hero there iz! Dah biggest, strongest, ded'hardest of 'em all! I wantz all dah baddies to get one look at me and know I'z comin' for'em and there'z nothing dey'z can do about it! I'll stomp, shoot, smash and chop'em so good dey'z nevah gonna want tah be baddies again!"

By the end of the boy's speech, Toshinori was leaning back, mildly disturbed by the sudden bloodthirst in the boy's grin…

"And when I'z dat hero, people won't have tah fear dah baddies again, cause when dey do, I'll be dere tah let'em know it'z awright. Why? Cuz, I'll be dere! Just like All Moigt!"

…

…

…

"That's my Izuku." Inko said proudly, with a soft chuckle.

And inside Toshinori's mind, gears were turning.

Young Izuku was… quite atypical, as young hopeful heroes went. Brash, reckless, with a clear and somewhat disturbing penchant for violence… but from what he had seen, and from what he had just heard, the boy clearly had his heart in the right place.

He didn't seem to be _quite_ what Toshinori was looking for, but still, it would be a shame to see all that potential going to waste…

"Well, my boy." He eventually stated, matching the kid's grin with one of his own. "I will say, you do seem to have the right mindset for it. You'd make a great hero."

"Ya think so?!"

"I know so. And in fact…" Toshinori excused himself briefly, getting up from the table, reaching for his backpack, from where he pulled the contraption he had confiscated from the boy earlier.

"Me shootah!" Izuku squawked in surprise as his eyes fell on the fake gun. "Where didja get it?!"

"Well… You see, the truth is that that All Might is a good old friend of mine." Toshinori said, earning an awed 'Oooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh…' from the boy. "I met him earlier today, and he had told me then about a young men he had met, who had built this thing."

"Oh, so dat'z why ya knew me name."

Shit, he hadn't thought of that…

"Ehr, yes, exactly. I recognized you from what he described to me. And you know what?" The skeletally thin man reached out, giving the thing back to the boy, who held the facsimile almost reverently. "It was All Might who first told me "Young Midoriya has what it takes to be a great hero.". And given what I've seen today, my boy? I agree 100%!"

The boy stood there, staring at him with those wide, bright red eyes, face slack in surprise for a good long while. Then, a soft, tender smile not unlike his mother's bloomed in his face, a jarring but welcome change from all the grinning he'd been doing before.

"Thank you." He said simply.

"Think nothing of it, my boy." The number 1 hero replied with a smile. "In fact, as thanks for helping me out, I'd be glad to help _you_ out in your path to being a hero. And I am sure that, if I ask my good buddy All Might, he'd be happy to lend a hand as well."

The boy was on him with a speed the man didn't think was possible without the appropriate speed quirk.

"REALLY!? YA MEANZ IT?!"

"Yes, really, really." The hero's grin widened, caught up by Izuku's infectious exuberance, before his eyes once again fell on the boy's mother, who had been watching the whole conversation unfold with that smile of hers steadily growing. "I mean, if your mother's ok with it, of course?"

"Oh, of course." The woman stated. "If it's to help Izuku being a hero, I agree."

"YAH! I'Z GONNA TRAIN HARD TAH BE A HERO WITH YAGI AN' ALL MOIGT'Z HELP! YOU'LL SEE, I'LL BE DAH BEZT EVAH!"

It was at that moment that young Izuku, being so caught up in his elation and excitement, pointed the gun at the ceiling _and fired a stream of bullets in between celebratory yells._

"Izuku." Inko said, scolding but not quite sternly. "What did I tell you about shooting at the dinner table?"

"Whoops, sorry." The chastised boy said, having the decency to look a bit sheepish. "Got a bit carried away…"

And Toshinori, picking his jaw of the floor at the display, decided there and then that keeping an eye on the kid was going to be a matter of _vital_ importance…

 _ **/**_

 _ **Soooooooooo…**_

 _ **That was a thing.**_

 _ **The very first, to my knowledge, crossover between BNHA and WH 40K, featuring and Orky Izuku of all things. What fresh Heresy have I just unleashed?**_

 _ **Hopefully, the entertaining kind.**_

 _ **Also, a couple of things I can probably tell you right now:**_

 _ **-The Waaagh is the only crossover element we'll be seeing. No Imperium, xenos, or Emperor forbid, Chaos will be showing up. Just one orky boy raising hell all on his own.**_

 _ **-Orky references. Expect a lot of them. WH Fantasy orcs too. Some fans of the later might even find a few bits of the chapter's beginning familiar.**_

 _ **I really hope you guys liked this idea and are eager to see the crazy adventures of Orkzuku, but be free to tell me what ya all think.**_

 _ **Next up, I will be updating Through the Eternities, somewhere during February if the schedule holds.**_

 _ **I'll cya all on the next one.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**_Howdy, folks, how's it going?_**

 ** _Here it is, in accordance to the schedule, the next update to 'Ere We Go, Pluz Ultra._**

 ** _Let me just say, I am floored with the amount of positive feedback I've been getting for this silly little idea of mine. You guys rock, and I hope you will enjoy what is to come._**

 ** _As always, the usual shout out to Chaos Productions, great writer and great sounding board._**

 ** _I own neither Boku No Hero Academia nor Warhammer 40K._**

 ** _Naw, lez get dis show on dah road, eh, ya gits?_**

 ** _'ERE WE GO, 'ERE WE GO, 'ERE WE GO._**

 ** _/_**

As Yagi crossed the esteemed halls of UA, he made a valiant yet ultimately futile effort to contain a weary sigh. With the entrance exam in but a week, all his preparations for his upcoming tenure as a teacher, the making sure that he still made a good amount of public appearances while keeping a track of his timer, the saving as many lives as possible and his… side project with young Midoriya, things had been rather busy for the deflated number 1 Hero. Put bluntly, he probably looked like crap right about now, or at the least more cadaveric than he ever had.

Shaking his head bemusedly at that notion, the man kept moving forward. No rest for the weary, the saying went. Or at least something like that, he was too tired to give a shit.

It wasn't much longer after that that he found himself in the teachers' office, and luckily for him the man he'd been looking for was there as he'd hoped.

"Ah, Power Loader." He called in greeting, the hero's helmeted head turning his direction in response (did he really have to wear that thing all the time? It couldn't be good for his neck and back…). "Just the man I wanted to see."

"Something you need, All Might?" Was the inquiring reply, even as the man's evaluating stare seemed to pierce through the emaciated hero's being. "You look like shit, by the way."

"Ah… Yes, I'm aware. It's… it's been a busy time." Yagi fumbled at the blunt assessment, Power Loader nodding in understanding. "But anyway, you are the one in charge of handling the requisitions for support item usage during the exam, yes?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm doing right now. Not too big of a list this time around, honestly, a belt here, a grappling hook there… worst I got was what first appeared to be a roll of toilet paper but then turned out to be a list of the items some girl wanting to get into the support course refers to as her "babies"." The hero made air quotes a that last word. "I am fairly certain three fourths of that list would've broken the Geneva Convention…"

"Is… Is that something that happens often?" The emaciated hero asked hesitantly, suddenly a bit nervous at the reasons that had brought him here.

"Eh, there's always a couple or so crazy ones in each batch." The excavation hero replied with a shrug. "I just marked 3 or so items I deemed safe enough for her to use. If she can accept that, good, if not, she's out before the tests even begin. The crazy ones are always a pain in the ass to deal with, but oftentimes they can be the ones that can really surprise you."

"God, do I know what that is like…" Yagi breathed out with a commiserating nod, earning him a curious look from his fellow teacher as he pulled some papers from his suitcase. "Speaking of, I was wondering if you could add this to the list and process it for me?"

Taking the files he was being given, Power Loader gave them a read, and when he was done, his head rose to meet Yagi's, and if the skeletal man had to guess, there was likely an incredulously raised eyebrow beneath that helmet.

"…Are you for real?" The hero asked dryly. "I meant that comment about the girl's list as a joke, but while this may not be a tenth as much, it legitimately has me wondering. You know this kid?"

"Uh, yeah." The deflated man replied. That he hadn't been immediately told to fuck off was a boon he was gonna do his best not to waste. "I met him a few months back. Good kid, really wants to be a hero, and, well… You said it yourself, about the crazy ones."

"So you're basically just admitting he's one of those. Can you say with 100% certainty this won't cause a PR nightmare if he starts blowing things up?"

"Power Loader" The excavation hero nearly recoiled at the sudden shift in tone from the number 1 hero. The nervous awkwardness had given way to a blank serenity, a tone of voice that indicated that what was being said was not a hope, a threat, a joke or a promise, but a mere statement of fact. "As I said, I've known this kid for months. And what I _can_ tell you, with 100% certainty, is that regardless of whether or not he enters UA, regardless of whether or not he manages to become a hero, Young Midoriya _is_ gonna be blowing things up. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. Way I see it, it might as well be in a place where we can try to contain and minimize the ensuing property damage."

…

…

"…Shit, so he's one of the good ones, uh?" The oddly helmeted hero quipped after a few moments of silent processing of the words.

"It may not sound like it the way I put it." Yagi stated, suddenly returning to the nervously awkward demeanour as if the shift had never occurred. "But even if his methods may be a bit… much, a drive like that is something that should never be wasted."

"I see…" Was the pensive reply, as the support course overseer gave the papers a more thorough look. "Well, I will be honest, I have my doubts about this. But, given such shining endorsement from the Number 1 Hero, plus the fact that all the legal mumbo jumbo seems to be all very well discriminated and written out, I guess I can let it pass, but it's your ass if anything goes wrong. Seriously though, whoever went through the trouble of filling out these attached forms must be some hard-working joe…"

On that much Yagi could agree. For such a kind, saintly housewife, Inko Midoriya sure had a downright frightening amount of knowledge of all the ins and outs of the cutthroat world of quirk regulations and policies. Then again, given how Izuku was, it made sense she'd have been forced to learn quickly…

/

A week later found the Midoriyas at the entrance of their home, Inko seeing her special little guy off on this very important day, Izuku all but shaking in giddy eagerness at what was to come.

"You've got everything, Izuku?" She inquired gently, that familiar, ever present smile on her face.

"Yah, Mah, everything's ready." The green-haired boy confirmed cheerily, patting both his backpack and fanny pack.

"Pens for the written exams?"

"In the bag. Check."

"Handkerchief?"

"In the pocket. Check."

"The bento I made?"

"Packed and eagerly anticipated. Check."

"All ordnance in working order and designed for the least amount of friendly fire possible?"

"Uuugggghh…" The boy groaned in protest, a dismayed grimace marring his face. "Feelz so wrong tah compurmise on dah dakka. It'z just a coupl'or so gizmos…"

"Izuku…" The name was called with just a slight hint of amused chastisement. "I believe Yagi-san and All Might were quite clear on that, were they not?"

"Hurgh, aye, aye, Mah, I'll stick to dah rubbah rounds," Izuku confirmed, looking like he had just swallowed a mouthful of sewage. "But if fings start goin' bad, I reserv dah roigt tah pull out dah big guns! Dat'z dah deal!"

"I suppose that's the best anyone's going to get out of this arrangement." The woman chuckled lightly. "All right then, off with you."

"Aye, Mah! Catcha later!" And with that, the green-haired boy made to turn and leave…

"Oh, and Izuku?"

"Yeah, Mah?"

"I am so proud of you." Inko said, her tone of voice shifting slightly, conveying things that even were other people to be overhearing, they would not be able to understand, her smile shifting to become a bit less indulgent amusement and a bit more something else, something melancholic. "Go out there and show them what you're made of."

For a brief few moments, her son did not reply, a certain blank confusion spreading across his features as he considered the words, blinking once, twice.

"Thanks, Mom." He ultimately said, a big, goofy grin blooming. "Dey'z nevah gun see me comin' till I'z alredy stompin' dem good!"

And with that, her boy was out the door.

Inko allowed herself a few moments to just stand there, contemplating the departure of the person that meant everything to her, on the way to take the first true step to achieve his dreams. Then she turned around and began making preparations for a special dinner for his inevitably triumphant return.

She also took the opportunity to spare a quick prayer for any poor unfortunate thing that UA would be throwing at Izuku this day. A futile gesture, but a nice one nonetheless.

/

"Oooooowwwwaaaaaa…" Izuku could not help but breathe out in awe as he stood upon the threshold of the UA Academy's entrance. The building was big as all zog, if a bit too heavy on the glass windows in his opinion, and the rows of statues of some of the greatest, toughest, dead-hardest heroes that had ever lived lined the way into it.

In the green-haired boy's mind, he could almost imagine them looking at him with taunting grins and challenging looks, daring him to try to be half as good as they had been. Joke was on them, he concluded with a wide grin (scaring some other gits into keeping a distance, not that he noticed), 'cause he was going to be twice as great!

"Out of my way, Deku." A growling voice behind him interrupted Izuku's musings, making him turn to see Katsuki standing there, glaring at him with something between extreme annoyance and murderous anger. The usual fare when it came to the blond boy.

"Oh, Hi, Katsu'! I wuz wonderin' where yoo wuz." He greeted with a happy grin. "Ready tah bust sum headz and take sum names?"

For reasons that where beyond Izuku, the friendly greeting only seemed to set off the other boy more, his red eyes (not as red as yours truly and he'd fight anyone who claimed otherwise!) narrowing and his teeth gritting, all but grinding in irritation. He looked, quite frankly, just about ready to blow.

That was something Izuku had always liked about Ol' Katsu, really. He knew how to keep things fun.

"Fuck off, Deku. Get out of my way." The explosive boy ground out, hands twitching in a way that promised that things were about to get loud.

"I dun fink I will, Ol' Katsu." Izuku replied very calmly, the faintest edge of something nasty marring his big friendly grin. "Yer not askin' niceliek, pluz dere's enuff space around fer ya to pass."

He could've sworn he heard something go boom. Probably Katsu's temper.

"You think you're fucking funny, Deku!?" Katsuki ground out, stomping forward until they were face to face, hand reaching to grab at the green-haired boy's shirt. "Bad enough that you've been shitting on all of my plans, you still think that your crazy shittery of a quirk means your anywhere near close enough to my league to be shit talking?!"

"Sumtimez I wonder'bout yer grasp on realatee, 'Splody boy." The green-haired boy replied, sounding both annoyed and genuinely confused, which in turn seemed to piss the other teen off all the more. "I'z not shittin' on anyfink, yu'ze dah one bein' a dikk roigt now!"

"FUCK YOU, DEKU!" Katsuki bellowed, spittle nearly flying out of his mouth as his rage reached near apoplectic levels. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN THAT FUCKED UP MIND OF YOURS, I DON'T KNOW HOW THEY EVEN LET YOU BE HERE TODAY, BUT YOU HAD BETTER BE GODDAMN SURE THAT YOU'RE _NEVER_ GONNA BE BETTER THAN ME!"

"OHOHOH, RILLEE?!" Izuku bellowed back, if for no other reason than that seemed to be the flow of the conversation, as he grabbed the arm grabbing him. "YA WANNA PUT YER MONEY WHER'YER MOUTH IZ, YA 'SPLODY GIT?! 'CUZ I'M DOWN! WE CAN HAZ A GO, ROIGT HERE, ROIGT _NAW_!"

To the green-haired boy's delight, Katsuki seemed about ready to accept the challenge, small pops beginning to crackle in his free hand…

"Uuhm, e-excuse me?"

 _"WHAT/WOT?!"_ The two boys yelled in unison, glaring in the direction the interruption had dared to come from, to see a girl, with brown hair, two bangs framing her face, and adorable rosy cheeks, taking a step back in trepidation, her eyes wide in alarm and a bit of concern.

"Y-you shouldn't fight." The girl said meekly, most likely regretting her choice of trying to separate the arguing duo.

"NONE'A YOUR BUSINESS, _ROUND FACE/ YA GIT! FUCK/ZOG_ OFF!"

Suddenly the sole target of all the fury that had been building up, the poor girl wisely decided it was best to slowly take a few more steps back before turning around and beating a hasty retreat further into the school.

Her unwanted intervention, however, seemed to have the side effect of giving Katsuki's rage enough of an outlet that the boy calmed down, at least enough to let go of Izuku with a tsk of attempted dismissiveness.

"I guess it doesn't matter why you're here, Deku." He said, a venomous glare on his face. "Because mark my words, when the time for the practical exam comes, I _will_ put you in your place."

And with that, the explosive blond turned slightly to the right and moved forward, shouldering past Izuku.

Good old fashion Katsu brand hot air, the green haired boy mused. Never failed to make a day interesting.

/

A short while later found Izuku seated in a massive auditorium, alongside every other student trying to gun for a place in UA's hero course. Ironically enough, seat placements had put him right next to Ol' Katsu, which he personally found hilarious in the way it made his old bud release smoke from his ears. Not that Izuku could blame him, having so many gits around and no brawlin' going on felt like such a waste…

As the green-haired boy glanced around however, sizing up which of the gits in his immediate vicinity might make for a fun scrap, all the light in the room flashed open and aimed at the podium, and the figure with an enormous grin and even more enormous, spiked tuft of blond hair, that now stood upon it.

"WHAT'S UP, LITTLE LISTENERS?!" The hero all the kids with a modicum of hero knowledge recognized as Present Mic, yelled out with that manic enthusiasm he was so well known for, putting a hand to his ear as he turned it to the audience. "EVERYBODY SAY HHEEEY!"

A few beats of sepulchral silence followed, as most of the kids present were not quite sure how to react, and pretty much all of them certainly did not want to do as asked…

"HHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYY!"

Quite a few people jumped in their seats at the deafening below, all heads in the room turning to the source, to find Izuku standing up from his seat, his fist raised high in the air as he stared down at the hero who, for a scant few seconds, seemed as surprised as everyone else.

Then a shit-eating grin bloomed on the man's face.

"YEEESSS! _FINALLY,_ SOMEONE WHO GETS IT! _THANK YOU_!" Present Mic cheered, throwing finger guns in the kid's direction. "APPLICANT 23451, YOU ARE NOW MY FAVORITE KID IN THE ROOM!"

The enthusiastic boy grinned back in equal measure as he returned to his seat, and the suddenly in a much more genuine good mood hero proceeded to explain what was gonna be expected of them.

Ooooooohhh, they were gonna be smashin' robots, _that_ was going to be-

"What the fuck was that, Deku?" Katsuki all but hissed from his side, snapping Izuku out of his growing excitement.

"Wot dah zog was wot?" He asked in confusion.

"Since when do you kiss ass like that?" The blond growled out.

"…Dah zog yu'ze goin' on about? _Datz Present Mike!"_ Izuku whispered back, blinking owlishly. "I nevah miss hiz shows if ah can help it, and he just asked us tah maek sum noise! How could I sez no?!"

Katsuki made to open his mouth for a scathing retort… but then he realized that _this_ was indeed an opportunity that Deku simply wouldn't have been able to pass up, and so he thought better of it and just turned forward again.

"-And you, the green-haired boy!"

Blinking at the sudden calling out (for who else could whoever the zog this was be talking about? He was the greenest!), Izuku turned towards another section of the auditorium, where the tall, short-haired young man who had stopped Present Mic's explanation with some overly worded question he couldn't be zogged to pay attention to stood rigidly, glasses over a stern frown.

"You and the boy beside you have been muttering for a while now." Glasses loudly proclaimed. "It's distracting! If you are not going to take this seriously-"

Oh, _zog_ no.

"YOU SHADDUP, YA STUFFY GIT!" Izuku bellowed in outrage, making the other boy recoil at the sudden hostility. "WOT GIVES YA DAH ROIGT TAH JUDGE _MAH_ SERIUSNEZ?! _YOU'ZE_ DAH ONE INTERRUPTIN' WITH STOOPID KWESHTOONS!"

"What? That is not… I-Uh, but…"

The git with the glasses spent several moments making a pretty good impression of a fish, seemingly unable to process his "just" admonishment being so crassly interrupted and then getting called out in turn, much to the general amusement of the listening audience. Hell, even Katsuki was grinning in approval. Then Present Mic took pity on the guy and spoke up, settling down the crowds as he answered to the git's question, explaining how the fourth kind of robot they'd be facing offered no points and would best be avoided. Humiliated, the boy respectfully apologized for his interruption and sat back down, though not before throwing a glare in Izuku's direction, but that too quailed when the green-haired boy threw him back a glare of his own.

Typical stuffy git behaviour, he concluded. Could dish it out, but couldn't take it.

Soon after that, with some last words of encouragement from the proctoring hero, they were told to gather at their assigned test areas so they could get this show on the road, and the belligerent duo realized that they had been assigned to different areas. Probably some bullshit about preventing cooperation between friends or some such.

"Tsk, doesn't matter." Katsuki spat, scowling at Izuku. "Even if I can't kick your shit in directly, rest assured Deku, my score is gonna leave you in the dirt."

"In yer dreams, 'Splody Boy." The green-haired boy replied, calling out to the already leaving explosive blond. "Oh, and Katsu?"

"What?!" The boy barked, turning his head to glare at his most despised enemy… only to falter briefly at the grin on his face, one he recognized well.

"Have fun." Izuku said simply, crimson eyes shining with bloodthirst. "I know _I_ will _."_

It was only then that it occurred to Katsuki that, now they knew they'd be up against solely robotic opponents, Deku had little reason to hold back…

It took more effort than he'd care to admit to not pick up the pace as he walked away.

/

A little while later, a group of hopeful soon to be students stood before the massive gates of one of the designated test sites, minutes before the beginning of the trial. Most of them were nervous in their own ways, and each and everyone of them tried to find outlets for that nervousness as best they could. Some turned to friendly banter with their peers, boasting about their upcoming success to reassure themselves of it. Some opted for quiet meditation, seeking to calm themselves and find their center in the upcoming ordeal. Some others took the opportunity to psych themselves up, and others still just went for good old fashioned warm up exercises.

Not giving a flying zog about any of that, Izuku simply crouched down amidst everyone else, hands in his fanny pack as he muttered to himself.

"Dat'z runnin' properly? Check… All dakka locked and loaded? Check… Hhhm, zoggin' shame I culdnt finish dat in time for dis, but dah zoggin bitz just won't stick, mebe if I-"

"Hey, you!"

Annoyed at the interruption, the green boy looked up, and didn't bother masking the exasperation he was feeling when he saw the stuffy git approaching him, although that was soon replaced by surprise as he noticed the exhaust pipes on his legs.

Did… Did this stuck up git _have leg engines_ as a quirk? Zog, some people got all the luck, the things _he_ could've done with something like-

"What, exactly, are you doing?!" The git demanded, ruining Izuku's moment of wonder. "Are you looking to gain some sort of unfair advantage over your competitors with whatever you're carrying in that bag? Because if so I will not hesitate to report you to the proctors."

The git's voice was _seriously_ starting to grate on Izuku's ears, a curious thought passing through his mind, wondering how much dakka he'd have to cram down the git's throat to get him to shut up for good…

"Go away." He said, chuckling lightly to himself at the funny image as he refocused his attention on his fanny pack. "I'm busy."

"Excuse me?!" Glasses recoiled at the dismissal, all bristling indignation. "Is this a joke to you? Didn't you just hear what I-"

"Oh, I heard ya'z loud'n clear." The shorter boy interrupted, not even bothering to acknowledge the nuisance with a glance. "I just dun give a zog wot you fink. I'z 'ere tah be a hero, an' I'z gun do it fair an' square, wiff all dah toolz _mah quirk_ helped me make. So git'off mah back and zog off, _before_ I forget dah promise I made 'bout friendly fire."

"Friendly fire?!" The git took a cautious step back, as if finally catching on to how much of a git he was being. "Are you truly trying to-?!"

"AAAANNND START!"

" _WWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"_

…

…

The students stood, transfixed, trying to process what had just happened. One second, the weird green kid had been crouched down, barely paying attention to anything but glasses guy nagging, and the next he was on his feet and rushing towards the fake city while belting out a bellow that sounded almost too loud for human vocal cords, nearly bowling over a couple of other students in the way.

As one, they turned to Present Mic, whose presence in and of itself was also an unexpected turn of events, silently asking for clarification about what had just happened.

The hero, for his part, just grinned back at them.

"WELL? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? IF YOU REALLY WANT TO BE HEROES YOU SHOULD BE QUICKER ON THE UPTAKE, LIKE 23451 THERE. THE EXAM'S STARTED! GO! GO! GO!"

With that, the situation finally dawned on the hopeful heroes to be, and the stampede ensued.

/

On the observation room, All Might stood with his fellow teachers, his form muscular and his grin wide, waiting for things to start. The UA entrance exam… God, it felt like a lifetime ago, when he himself had been in the position of the kids on the various screens, nothing to his name but a newly acquired quirk after an entire young life without, and all the hopes and expectations that came with it…

He wondered, as he glanced over as many prospective students as he could, what would each of them have felt had they been in his specific situation. How well they'd do now that their own turn had come. And most of all he wondered-

"Scouting out for potential candidates?" Nezu suddenly inquired at his side, making the number 1 hero jump at the little critter's sneakiness.

"Ehrm, well, that is to say…" All Might fumbled, trying to remember how to form coherent sentences again. "Yes, I suppose I am."

The screening of this batch of students for a potential successor _was_ admittedly one of the three main reasons why All Might had decided to join in watching the proceedings, even though he wasn't part of the evaluation board. Much as he hated to admit, the fact of the matter was that he simply _couldn't_ keep this up forever. He needed to find someone to pass the mantle on to, and fast.

The second reason was to observe his colleagues at work in analysing the student candidates, in the vain hopes of glimpsing some tips and tricks for his own upcoming time as a teacher. Heavens knew he couldn't be going in blind on that one…

"Well, then," Nezu stated, in a tone that had All Might wondering if the Headmaster had read every single thought that had just gone through his mind… "Let's get this show on the road, shall we? Power Loader, give Mic the go ahead."

"Yes, sir." The excavation hero replied, pressing a button.

An instant later, All Might witnessed through the screens how most of the students fumbled as they got caught off guard by the abrupt start of the exam, and the visible amusement that caused to his colleagues.

"Eh." Snipe chuckled. "They never see it comin'."

"Oh, I don't know." The far too provocatively dressed Midnight commented, in a voice that sounded far too sultry. "At least a few of them seem eager enough to get going. Like that one there, he didn't even hesitate. I like that."

Against his better judgement, the number 1 hero turned to the screen she'd been talking about and… Oh.

There went the third reason he was here.

He gave a quick prayer for the chaos to not get too out of hand.

/

Izuku ran through the streets of the fake city, ahead of the crowd, bellowing at the top of his lungs all the while. After all, if the robots were programmed to fight them, what better way to get them to show up than to provide a target?

"WHERE YOU'ZE AT, YA ROBO GITZ?!" He taunted, looking left and right in eager anticipation of the upcoming scrap. "COME ON, I'Z GOT SUM GIZMOS HERE DAT I'D LOVE YA TAH MEET! COME HAVE A GO IF YA FINK YA GOT DAH BITZ!"

As if summoned by his words, out from a corner came a towering figure of steel standing upon a single large wheel, one limb ending in a massive metal fist, and the other in a rotating cannon that had the green-haired boy eyeing it greedily.

A 1-point bot, Izuku noted. Ah well, gotta start somewhere.

" **Puny organic detected.** " It said in a blank, mechanical tone, its single red lens flaring as it fell upon the boy's figure and it rose its cannon arm. " **Commencing extermination protocols.** "

"OH DAT A FACT?!" The grinning boy challenged, reaching into the fanny pack at his waist, and pulling out his trusty, lucky shoota. "EXTERMINATE DIS, DEN! _WWWAAAAAGGGGHHHH!"_

Izuku pulled the trigger, and his loud bellow was drowned out by the even louder deluge of ammunition that fell upon the 1-pointer, an onslaught that made even the programming that passed for its mind have a taste of the concept of surprise, making the robot recoil backwards at the sheer rate of fire that was pinging off its chassis.

A pinging noise that had the shit-eating grin fading slowly from the green-haired boy's face, as he realized that, as loud and fun as this was being, his shoota wasn't really damaging the robot any worse than putting some minor dents in it. And it seemed like the 1-pointer itself was catching on.

" **Damage from puny organic's attack: Insignificant.** " It intoned, as it began moving forward. " **Commencing retaliation protocols.** "

"…Nevah, evah, _evah,_ compurmize on dah dakka." Izuku growled to himself at the travesty of the lack of effect of his rubber rounds. "THANKZ'A LOT, ALL MOIGT! Aight den, plan B it iz…"

Grumbling to himself at the injustice of it all, the aggravated boy once more reached into his fanny pack, completely unheeding of the approaching wall of steel even as it stood right next to him.

" **Die, Puny organic."**

The 1-pointer rose its fist and brought it smashing down on its target that was just now reacting to its presence, by swinging one of his arms, now covered in a large, unwieldy, metallic block, painted a deep red, to meet the incoming blow. A foolish last-ditch attempt at protection with a rudimentary shield from the puny organic, its programming concluded.

The blow connected with a loud clang… and the robot's arm went no further.

Confused, it tried to move the appendage, but all that resulted in was strain on its hydraulics and the keening groan of twisting metal. It was at this point that the automaton noticed the three large, scything talons of steel clenched around its forearm, tearing deep into the metal like a hot knife through butter.

"Need a hand?!" Izuku taunted cheekily.

The 1-pointer brought its cannon up in response, only to have its laser shot hit a nearby building when the boy moved his power claw, forcing its arms to smack together and diverting the attack.

"Oh, so ya scrappy gits get tah use proppah shooty fings but I can't?! How'z dat fair?!"

" **Fairness is irrelevant. Please release this unit so extermination of puny organics can continue."**

"Yah, no, _I'z_ dah one doin' dah exterminatin' round here!" Letting go of the robot's arm, and before it could react, the incensed boy approached the villain-bot and dug his claw in its chest, using it to climb the metal frame until he was on top of it. The 1-pointer made to grab him, only for its arm to be restrained by the steel talons once again.

Except this time, instead of just keeping it trapped, the aspiring student swung his claw downwards, forcing the robot's fist to smash against its head. And then he did it again, and then again some more.

"QUIT HITTIN' YERSELF! QUIT HITTIN' YERSELF, YA GIT!"

Its optics damage from the blows of its own fist, the 1-pointer raised its cannon arm and frantically begun shooting, seeking to dislodge its attacker, a veritable red lightshow that went wide in every shot on account of the ruined targeting systems. Glancing down at the top of the robot he stood on, Izuku's eyes begun combing the steel chassis for another good place to wreck- oh, big shut down button, right between his feet.

Letting go of the villain bot's arm, the power claw came crashing down, ripping off that entire section of the chassis, revealing the intricate network of tubes and wiring beneath, connecting the metallic frame to the robot's processing unit. With all the finesse of a drunk rhino, the green-haired boy reached down with his free hand and ripped out a bundle of them.

The 1-pointer immediately went ramrod straight, ceasing all motion with a whirring, gravely beep.

"Ah!" The boy gloated at the success. "Not so tuff now iz'ya-"

Barely noticing that the cables in his hand were still connected to the robot's interior, Izuku was caught by surprised when a small tug upwards on his part caused the automaton's arm to lift and unleash a crimson laser beam that blew the head of an approaching 2-pointer clean off its frame.

Izuku blinked.

Then, just to make sure he wasn't seeing things, he tentatively tugged the cables forward, and sure enough, the robot advanced forward.

…Well, now.

Come to think of it, nothing in his promise said anything about using someone else's dakka, right?

A wide, manic grin bloomed on the boy's face.

"Oh, dis gun be gud…"

/

"Well, didn't see that comin'." Snipe commented, as the assembled teachers, drawn to the spectacle of the exam's first confrontation, watched the boy suddenly take off on the 1-pointer at speeds he wasn't even sure the things should be able to reach. "That looked familiar to you too, right Power Loader?"

"Yes." The excavation hero grunted, turning to All Might. "So, that's the kid, uh?"

"Yes, that's him." The number 1 hero confirmed, a weary sigh escaping his lips. It was a vain hope that the boy would've not stirred things up too much, and he knew it.

"A reckless display." Eraserhead, looking as always like he hadn't had enough sleep and as always sounding as grumpy as such a state would imply, threw in his two cents, clearly not too impressed with the kid's stunt.

"Maybe, but it certainly got the job done." Midnight allowed, before voicing her confusion. "But what exactly did he do? Who's this kid?"

At that question, the cloaked, nightmarish looking Ectoplasm picked up his personal screen pad and began running through the applicants' listings "Let's see… Ah, here he is. Izuku Midoriya. Quirk,… "The Waaagh"? Apparently it lets him manipulate machinery and build things from scrap. He put in a request for support items of his own creation during the exam."

At that, the spacesuit wearing Thirteen turned to All Might and Power Loader.

"You allowed a request to bring a gun into the exam? And you gave the okay?" They questioned, not quite in reproach, but certainly not quite comprehending their colleagues' laxness.

"The forms were all properly filled out, and it even came with a couple of annex listings of quirk laws that specified how the kid's creations were a part of his quirk. I couldn't really say no." The excavation hero said simply, sparing a hesitant All Might from pitching in, although a confused frown was marring his face as he looked at his own personal screen pad. "But this is odd…"

"What is?"

"I've been monitoring all the villain bot units. We've lost all connection with Victory Unit 37-B, the one the kid has taken. It's been completely cut off from our network. Which shouldn't have happened unless it was completely obliterated. He shouldn't have just been able to hijack the robot, it simply _doesn't_ work like that…"

"Uh," Snipe replied intelligently. "Guess that's the "manipulate machinery" part at work? And on that note, building things from scrap? Where would he find enough of that for the amount of ammunition we've just seen him use?"

Listening in on his colleagues conversation, All Might's ever-present smile froze in place, a bead of cold sweat running down his forehead…

 _"Now, Young Izuku, being a hero is more than just fighting, helping the community is also important! This beach has fallen into heavy disrepair, and so it'll be your job to-"_

 _"LOOK'AT ALL DAH LUVLY JUNK! THANKS, ALL MOIGT, I'Z GUN PUT DIS TAH GUD USE!"_

…He pointedly gave no indication of having heard the question, opting instead for paying attention to what his kinda sorta maybe protégé/provider of heart attacks was going to do next.

/

Amidst all the fighting that was going on in the streets around her, Mina Ashido allowed herself a moment to breathe.

The horned, vivid-pink skinned girl knew full well that UA was the best hero school in the country for a reason, but still, this exam was a fair bit more hardcore than she had been expecting. In the distance, she could see a few bots floating helplessly in the air before some brunette did something to make them come crashing down, and closer still, someone was literally eating one of the robots, and even that weird flamboyant blond kid was putting in a surprising amount of work with those lasers.

It occurred to her that there were probably something close to a thousand applicants here today, trying their hardest to earn their place in the 40 spots available. Could she really compete with that…?

Her hand came up to smack her own cheek. What was she doing, moping and self-doubting like this? She was Mina Ashido! She was a pink can of kick ass and she was going to show it!

Heck, she even already had a decent score going, it was only a matter of wrecking a few more bots before they ran out.

With that thought in mind, the girl turned… And golden eyes upon black sclerae nearly bulged out of her head as she found herself face to face with a massive 3-pointer bot, cannons primed and aimed at her.

"Oh, shi-!"

" **Puny organic detected, commencing extermi-"**

" _WWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!"_

A green blur slammed into the robot from the side, and it took a few minutes for Mina to comprehend that yes, a 1-pointer had indeed just saved her by shoulder-checking her would be attacker. Then, before the larger machine could react, a cannon arm took aim.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP'EM GOOD, SCRAPPY!"

Between laser bursts and bouts of uproarious, almost maniacal laughter, it finally registered on Mina that the green-haired guy that had rushed in ahead of all of them was riding shotgun on top of the smaller robot, manipulating it like a marionette through the cords coming from between its shoulders.

"OI, PINKY!" The guy then called out to her, jerking her out of her shock.

"Uh, yes?" She ventured lamely, but come on, give her a break! This was hardly a normal occurrence!

With a tug of his hand, the 1-pointer grabbed its larger and badly mangled counterpart's head and dragged it down to her level.

"Ya wanna krump it?" He inquired.

Mina blinked.

"…Uuuuh, what?"

"Do ya wanna finish it, or can I?" The boy asked again, a slight tinge of impatience in his tone.

Mina blinked again.

"Uh yeah. Yeah, totally. Thanks, I guess."

The girl put a hand to the robot, and watched its struggles fade into stillness as she pumped as much acid as she could, melting the head into a mess on the ground.

"Oi, dat'z a neat trik, dat iz!"

"…Thanks?" She replied uncertainly.

"You'ze welcome!" He grinned at her, not unlike a cat might grin at a mouse. "Well, den, keep'on enjoyin' dis moigty fine scrap. Zog knowz I will! NOW, RIDE, SCRAPPY, RIDE INTAH BATTLE! _WAAAAAAGGH!"_

With that, her rescuer's improbable vehicle surged forward, leaving Mina behind in the wake of its dust.

… What a weird guy.

/

Despite everything, All Might couldn't help but feel genuine pride. Young Izuku's… somewhat extreme penchant for violence and eagerness for battle might be showing a bit, but at least the boy wasn't letting that stop him from lending a hand to his fellow applicants that found themselves in a bind.

Sure, jury was out on whether he had actually noticed them or not before charging in guns blazing, but his fellow teachers didn't need to know that.

"Well then," Nezu suddenly stated, taking a quaint little sip from the mug of tea in his hands. "We're at the tail end of the exam. I would say it's time to finish things off with a bang. Power Loader, if you would?"

"Yes, sir." The helmeted hero grunted, pressing a big, red button on the room's main console.

Which, if All Might's recent experiences had taught him anything, was very much not a good sign…

/

Izuku honestly could not remember the last time he'd had this much fun.

Riding a robot at decidedly unsafe speeds through an increasingly more ruined facsimile of a city, turning every bot that got into his field of vision into piles of scrap, doing the occasional good deed by helping out a git that had gotten in over their heads in the fight, the noise, the property damage, the destruction!

You know, the simple pleasures, always the best ones in life.

He was in the midst of repeteadly bashing another 1-point bot against a wall however, when he finally noticed that all the other gits seemed to be running past him, in obvious panic as they tried to escape something. A second later he realized, with a blink, that it had suddenly turned darker.

…Where'd the sun go?

"Wot dah zo-oooooooooooooooowwwwwwaaa…" Turning around, Izuku's words died in his mouth as he looked up. And up. And up.

Either he really had been paying too little attention to Present Mic's explanations because of Katsu and the stuffy git, or the hero had neglected to mention that one of the robot classes they'd be facing was actually a gargantuan colossus of steel, looming over even the building around it as the ground shook with its ponderous strides.

There was really only one way the red-eyed boy could react to this.

"I WANNA KRUMP IT!"

A grin that only didn't get any wider because that would be anatomically impossible, the battle-eager boy made to push his trusty steed forward…

"H-help!"

… When he he heard the frightened call amidst all the noise, and glancing down, saw some git, who he recognized as the girl that had rudely tried to interrupt his friendly conversation with Katsu earlier, desperately trying to free her trapped leg from the rubble, directly in the path of the massive robot that didn't even seem to notice her.

Slowly, very slowly, the grin on the boy's face vanished, leaving behind an oddly blank expression.

"…Oh, _zog_ no."

/

Not counting her earlier encounter with that very angry duo and the pangs of nausea that had been assaulting her throughout the exam, Ochako Uraraka could probably say her day hadn't been going too bad. She had been given a shot at UA, far as she could tell, she'd been doing decently well in the exam, all in all, things were looking good for her future prospects.

Of course, it was mere seconds after she had that thought that the 0-pointer decided to pop out from out of nowhere right next to her, leaving her trapped under the debris. It'd almost be fascinating how things could go sideways so quickly if she hadn't been the one things were going sideways for.

Trying very hard to keep her cool amidst the stressful situation, the brunette tried to use her quirk to get the rubble off her foot, but unfortunately, her stomach resented the effort too badly and she did not manage it. Frantically she tried to call for help, but the other applicants either didn't see her beneath the robot or didn't hear her over the cacophony it was making with every movement.

So, as she once again looked up, to see the massive metal foot slowly coming down on her, Ochako couldn't help but think that she could _really_ use a hero right about now…

" _WWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"_

A burst of laser beams crashed into the metal colossus, making it briefly hesitate in its stride.

And next thing Ochako knew, a 1-pointer skidded to a stop right next to her, picked the rubble off her foot, grabbed her with surprising gentleness, and then proceeded to run back down the street.

It was only when they were at a relatively safe distance, as the 1-pointer dropped her on its back, that the brunette noticed the boy, one of the angry duo of this morning, piloting the thing.

"You ok?" He asked her, a heavy frown on his face as he looked her over.

"Y-yes." She found herself replying, once the shock of what had just happened wore off enough.

"Good." The boy said with a nod, throwing a glare in the 0-pointer's direction. "Here. Keep'er taut and steady, wuld ya?"

He handed her the cords he'd been using to move the robot, and Ochako, not quite getting it, simply did as she was told. Meanwhile, he reached his hands into his fanny pack, seemingly looking for something in there while mumbling something to himself.

"Lesse, shoota? Not shooty enuff. Choppa? Not choppy enuff… Powah Klaw? Not big enuff… Dat'z not done yet and I should relly get tah it… oh, didn't know dat was still here…"

As the boy grumbled, Ochako noticed with increasing distress that the 0-pointer was approaching surprisingly quickly for something of its bulk.

"Uuuh, excuse me?" She ventured, a heavy note of urgency in her voice.

"Yah?" The boy replied carelessly, not looking up.

"Shouldn't we be getting _out_ of here?"

"Zog, no." The boy threw a glare at her, though it somehow felt to her that she wasn't the intended recipient. "Dis fing nearly stomped ya tah paste, put all'o uz in danger, iz causin' hooge amounts a' property damage an' _iz selfishly hoggin' it all tah itself while interruptin' MAH ZOGGIN' GUD TIME! IT'Z GOIN DOWN!"_

…

…

"…Oooook." The brunette ventured hesitantly. "And how are you planning on doing that…?"

"Duncha fret none." He said, a grin on his face that she supposed was meant to be reassuring. "I haz a kunnin' plan."

Then he turned back to the massive robot and bellowed at the top of his lungs.

"OOOOOIIIII! YA GIANT, WALKIN' PILE' A _JUNK!"_

Stopping in its stride, the 0-pointer's head tilted downwards to look at them, the six red lenses on what passed for its face flashing almost as if it actually _felt_ insulted.

Then the boy pulled whatever he'd been looking from the fanny pack- _How did a freaking rocket launcher fit in there?!_

" ** _GIT'ZOGGED!"_**

A salvo of six yellow rockets, dotted in checkered patterns, flew true. Two of them struck the the 0-pointer's arm, another three found their mark between the shoulder and the neck, and the final one hit it directly in the face, each one resulting in a positively _deafening_ detonation and massive bursts of smoke and fire.

The impact was apparently so strong that, with a loud, keening, metallic groan, the colossal automaton began tilting backwards, its entire form engulfed in a chain reaction of explosions.

And as the heat wave blasted through her hair, Ochako didn't know whether she should be grateful to the boy for saving her life, or worrying about the way he was grinning as the light of the flames reflected upon his blood red eyes…

/

Katsuki had been breezing through the exam, completely annihilating every robot in the area, and going out of his way to ensure that all the damn extras around got as little as possible.

He was the best, and nobody was gonna trump his score, least of all fucking Deku!

Of course, it was at the moment that thought crossed his mind, that a sudden burst of light lit up the shadows of the buildings around, and looking behind him, a large, mushroom cloud could be seen.

The explosive blond's face briefly went slack from the shock at the sight. But that was very quickly replaced by a leer of sheer fury.

"DEKU, YOU FUCKING _SHOWOFF!"_

 _/_

A sepulchral silence filled the observation room.

Glancing around himself at the slack-jawed looks of shock in his colleagues (except for All Might, who for some reason was face palming), Snipe decided to take the initiative.

"Aight', I'll be the one to say it…" The sharpshooting hero took a deep breath. " _What in tarnation was that?!"_

"That," Power Loader stated bluntly. "Was a kid blowing the crap out of one of our Executor class villain bots with a rocket launcher of his own creation that he somehow pulled out of a fanny pack."

"This," Nezu replied, for once sounding genuinely surprised. "Was not quite what I meant with finishing things off with a bang."

The excavation hero shrugged at that, then he turned towards Eraserhead and Vlad King, the former _very_ awake for once and the later utterly flabbergasted, and stated what most of those present were likely thinking.

"I am so glad he's going to be _your_ problem."

 ** _/_**

 ** _So._**

 ** _That was a thing._**

 ** _An orky enough way to ago about an entry exam, wouldn't you say?_**

 ** _Also, I feel the need to make one thing clear. I had absolutely no intention of bashing Iida in this chapter. But come on, did you honestly expect his by the book, rigid demeanour to mesh well with orkyness?_**

 ** _Yeah, didn't think so._**

 ** _So, next time around, a bit of fallout, and the beginning of a new school year. Stay tuned if you want to know what's the deal with that fanny pack._**

 ** _Next month, ya'll are getting an update to Through the Eternities._**

 ** _Cya all then._**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Howdy folks, how's it going?_**

 ** _Here it is, the promised update to this particular fruit of my possible, maybe even likely, madness. Just for the record, I am not liable to do this two updates a month thing again. I'm exhausted._**

 ** _As always, big shout out to Chaos Productions for his assistance. Be sure to check out his stories and the TVtropes page for Strength of an Honest Soul when ya have the chance._**

 ** _As always, I own neither BNHA nor Warhammer 40k_**

 ** _/_**

A week later found the no less exhausted number one hero at the threshold of a by now familiar apartment, in all his skeleton-thin, emaciated glory. He took a moment to adjust the collar of his currently incredibly baggy suit in an ultimately futile attempt to look more presentable and less haggard before he rang at the doorbell. A few moments later the door opened, and Toshinori was greeted by an equally familiar warm, motherly smile.

"Yagi-san, right on time." Inko greeted with that serene cheer of hers even as she opened the door wide to allow him entry. "Come in, come in, dinner is almost ready."

"Ah yes, thank you, Midoriya-san." The hero replied as he made his way in, having long since given up on trying to refuse the woman's invitations, and _definitely_ not wanting to be faced with the oddly terrifying twist her smile took upon said refusals.

Months after, it still boggled Toshinori just how easily he had settled into the routine of at least biweekly dinners at the Midoriya household, how utterly refreshing it felt to be just like any other average Joe enjoying the companionship of friends. For despite all the shenanigans, that is indeed what the Midoriyas had become to him. Good friends, people who had welcomed him into their lives and he had genuinely come to care about, despite the obvious eccentricities…

The noise of something big tumbling and crashing down followed by what could only be described as a small explosion pierced through the man's musings.

 _"Zoggin' dammit!"_

"… Young Izuku's tangled up in one of his little projects, I take it?" The number one hero ended up asking, for lack of anything better to say, despite knowing the answer full well. He was honestly not sure what to make of the fact that what he had just heard was such a common occurrence around the place he barely reacted with more than a mild flinch these days.

"I'm afraid so." The Midoriya matriarch replied, having the decency to look slightly embarrassed. "He found something in the thrash of Dagobah beach that left him quite hyper. He's been cooped up in his bedroom fiddling with it all afternoon."

Toshinori tried hard not to cringe, both because he knew that what the woman called a "bedroom" could more accurately be described as a war zone at this point and because of his own unwitting part on feeding the boy's… destructive creativity by supplying him with the raw materials he needed.

At least that beach had been cleaned out almost over night and become a lovely place for the general public to visit. Silver linings and all that, right…?

"I suppose it's time to get him out of there." Inko commented indulgently, before calling out a little bit louder. "Izuku, dinner's ready and Yagi-san's here!"

"Comin', Mah!"

As the number one hero took his seat at the table, the crash of a door being violently opened and the stomping of running feet echoed through the house until the boy in question stood at the dining room's entrance, soot smudges all over his face and a pair of goggles on his head. The moment his blood red eyes fell on the emaciated man, the boy grinned wide in a way Toshinori only knew was supposed to be friendly because he'd known him for months.

"Hi, Yagi! Been a while." Izuku greeted with all the energy of an excited puppy. "How'z ya doin'?"

"Hello, my boy. I've been doing well, thank you. Sorry, about my absence, work has been keeping me quite busy this last week." Toshinori replied with an apologetic smile, amused despite himself at the boy's cheer, before adding with a bit more… concern. "May I ask what has you so busy?"

In an instant, the boy's mood plummeted from excited cheer into childish sulking, smile dropping into an annoyed frown.

"Found me an ol'muscly car engine in all dah beach junk." The boy said, arms folded in grievance. "It'z perfect for sumthin' I'z workin' on, so I'z been tryin' tah rig it in. But dah zoggin' fing's bein' a dikk and not pluggin' propahly!"

"Hheerrm, I see…" The emaciated man replied lamely, half confused by the boy's words, half concerned about whatever this "sumthin" was. He knew better than to ask though, because he'd since come to learn Izuku was surprisingly secretive about his projects and because, honestly, he was not sure he _wanted_ to know… "Well, my boy, maybe it's best if you take a little break, come back to the problem when you're fresh."

"Dat'z quiter's talk…" The green-haired boy retorted with a grumble.

"Now, Izuku, Yagi-san does make a good point." The boy's mother cut in, the mouth-watering aroma of her cooking spreading through the dining room as she brought in the dinner. "Besides, you know you shouldn't bring your work to the dining table. Go clean your face and wash your hands, sweetie, so we can eat."

"Yeah, yeah, Mah…" Izuku relented sulkily, briefly vanishing over the corner to do just that. Soon as he was done, the trio got to enjoy a peaceful meal, or as peaceful as it could get with the way the boy savagely attacked his plate. Table manners seemed to be one of the few areas where his mother had not had any form of success in, the number 1 hero had mused more than once.

"So, Young Izuku." Toshinori broke the companionable silence, trying to lead into the reason he had come here today. "I wasn't able to ask after the fact, but how'd the exam go?"

"T'waz awshum!" The boy replied excitedly with a full mouth. "Lotsha'botz and-"

"Izuku, chew." His mother kindly reminded, to which the boy complied.

"Roigt, sorry. T'waz awsome! Lotz'a robots errywhere, and t'waz an all-ya-can-krump-fest! I didn' leave one'a dah scrappy gits unwreked!" The boasting stopped as suddenly as it had started as Izuku's excitement made way to an annoyed glare. "I'just had a lil' setback at first, cuz ya'n All Moight, me dakka wuzn' killy enuff."

The emaciated man tried hard not to cringe at the accusation. Trying to dissuade the boy from using lethal ammunition in the exams had been a herculean effort in and of itself, marking the only time he'd seen Izuku being legitimately angry at him in his hero form. Which made the fact that it had proven to be a somewhat counterproductive measure all the more painfully ironic…

"But it wuz ok tho, I managed tah improvise." The boy continued, swiftly changing back into an excited mood. "I took one'a dem scrappies an' used it tah krump dah others. Most fun I evah had! And, and den dere wuz diz _BIG_ scrappy git, ya? Well, I krumped'im _dah bezt_ of all! Filled'im full of rokkits and made me dah _biggest_ boom in dah city! Really, it made dah newz later when I got home!"

He took a moment to breathe in and out, all the boasting cheer bleeding into a calmer but still quite hyped state, made obvious by the megawatt grin that bloomed on his face.

"I even got to help some of the other gits while I was at it. In short, t'was the best time of my life."

At the boy's proclamation, his mother smiling that indulgent smile of hers while Toshinori blinked, briefly overwhelmed by his excited ranting.

"I see." The emaciated man said at length. "And you think you did well enough to be accepted in U.A.?"

"Zog k-"

"Izuku." Inko's smile took some edges of scolding. "Language."

"Sorry, Mah. As I wuz saying, who knows." The boy replied with a shrug, surprising the number 1 hero for the lack of boisterousness in his tone. "I think I did pretty well, so dem's good odds that I did. If I didn't, well, I dun need dem. I'z just gun go to othah skools till one accepts me. An' if none do, dem's all a bunch'o wimpy gits, and I'll be a hero anyway, cause I dun need no fancy schmancy skool tah tell me how ter save gits."

…

…

"That's my Izuku." His mother chuckled, beaming with pride.

Well, Toshinori considered with a bemused grin, it could do with a lot less blatant disregard for the law, but overall it was a fine answer indeed.

"Fair enough, my boy." The skeletal hero replied with a chuckle, before reaching for his pocket, pulling out an envelope. "That reminds me, All Might asked me to hand this over to you."

"Wot?" Izuku asked as he nabbed the letter being handed to him, the confusion in his expression being quickly replaced by giddiness as he realized what it was. "Oooooooh, dis be the U.A.'z lettah!"

"Indeed, it is. All Might insisted I hand deliver it to you personally." Toshinori, explained. It was no secret to the Midoriyas that his heroic self would be teaching at U.A. starting this semester, he had distractedly let that slip a couple of months back. "He also asked me to assure you that while he was observing the exam, he wasn't part of the judging board. Whatever that letter says, it's entirely on your performance, my boy."

"Well, then, no point in keeping up the suspense." Inko commented, looking at her son encouragingly. " Go head, Izuku, open it."

The green-haired boy needed no further prompting before all but shredding the envelope, which caused its contents, a small metallic piece, to drop and bounce towards the center of the table.

"…Wot?" Izuku grunted, blinking owlishly at the object, which activated the very next second, bright blue light shooting upwards to form a holographic screen.

With All Might on it.

 _"I AM HERE AS A PROJECTION!"_ The number 1 hero, in all his nice-suited, fully muscled glory, stood amidst a stage that wouldn't look too out of place in some tacky late afternoon contest show, grinning towards the camera.

"Ooooowwwaaaaahhh…" The red-eyed boy breathed out in wonder as he looked on.

 _"Izuku Midoriya! You have attended the entry exams for U.A. High School, my alma mater and soon to be workplace, and I am here to inform you about your results."_ The holo-recording continued unimpeded. _"When it comes to the written portions, your performance was relatively decent. Your scores are firmly middle-of-the-pack, could be better, but certainly enough."_

The boy could not contain an exasperated groan at that, and Toshinori couldn't help but give him a sympathetic look. Izuku was not dumb by any means, but the hero had long since found that it was extremely difficult for the boy's rather… hyperactive personality to make any sort of academic effort. He still tried, bless his simple, overwhelming desire to help others and his mother for having convinced him one thing would lead to the other, but being cooped up studying all but classified as torture in his mind.

 _"However, when we move on to the practical portion, that's where we find that you have truly excelled!"_ The record continued, screens popping up behind the hero to show several highlights of the boy's performance, or as it had perhaps been more accurately named by some of the teachers, rampage. _"Throughout the exam, you amassed a score of 45 villain points from all the robots you destroyed. That was very well done, if I do say so myself. However, there was more to the exam than just defeating villains!"_

The images then focused on the moment he had saved Pinky from being blindsided by one of the scrappies, and the moment when he had saved Roundy from being stomped by the big'un.

 _"Being a hero is about helping others, so what kind of hero school would we be if we did not reward such efforts? This exam had a secondary point system solely for such actions, rescue points. And by your bold deeds, you amassed 50 of them! So, with 45 villain points, and 50 rescue points, leaving your total score at 95 points, you are more than qualified for U.A.!"_

The projected hero raised his hand then, as if encouraging his audience to take it, his grin suddenly a lot less bombastic, more genuine, proud.

 _"Congratulations, Young Midoriya, you passed. This'll be your Hero Academia-What's that?"_ The recorded All Might suddenly turned, slightly out of view, listening to something entirely off camera. _"Oh, right. On the first school day, after classes, stop by the support course studios, Young Midoriya. Power Loader would like to have a word with you about one of the villain bots that's missing. All Might out!"_

The hologram shut down, leaving behind silence as the two adults present turned to the newly accepted U.A. student. There were honestly a few ways Toshinori had been expecting things to go from here. Ear-shattering victorious yelling, celebrations with gunfire, heck, maybe even an explosion or two at the worst-case scenario. What he had not expected, however, was for the boy to just sit there, staring blankly at the projector as if still struggling to process what he had just heard.

Concern flashed through the man, who glanced at the boy's mother, looking for signs of anything wrong. The woman for her part, her eyes shining with unshed tears of pride, simply craned her head in her son's direction, as if encouraging him to take his doubts directly to the source.

"My boy…?" The emaciated hero eventually asked, when the silence begun to last a little too much for comfort. That drew the kid's attention, those blood-red eyes focusing on him. Then slowly, the boy's expression shifted.

If there was one word Toshinori would have chosen to describe what he was seeing in Izuku right now, that could only ever be "contentment".

"I did it." The boy said, calmly, softly, a simple smile on his face, so unlike the boisterous or downright bloodthirsty grins the hero had become accustomed to it was almost jarring.

"Eh, yes, my boy." Toshinori agreed, smiling back at his unlikely protégé. "Yes, you did."

/

A few days later marked the beginning of a new school year at U.A. academy. And bright and early in the morning, in the classroom of the newly formed Hero course class 1-A, only one student had already arrived. Sitting at her assigned desk at the back end of the room, Momo Yaoyoruzu eagerly waited for the beginning of the classes.

The tall, pony-tailed girl took a moment to check if all her school supplies were in order or whether she needed to quickly create anything, for the third time since she had arrived. While outwardly she gave off an air of calm and poise as she'd long since been taught a proper young lady should, inwardly the recommendation student couldn't help but feel giddy and nervous in equal measure, like any kid on their first day of school would.

On the one hand, she had made it into U.A., as one of the four recommendation students at that, which marked one of the best begginings possible for anyone trying to make a career in Heroics, and she was about to meet a group of classmates, people her own age, who shared in this goal of hers. On the other hand, well… she was going to meet people her own age, and if there had been one downside to her high-class upbringing, it was that her capacity for social interaction with people her own age in an ordinary setting was a bit more lacking than she liked to admit. In other words, she wanted to make friends, like any average girl, but was worried about unwittingly messing up and making things awkward, or worst-case scenario, ending up ostracized and alone the rest of the-

 _Bang!_

Momo was quite literally rocked out of her worried musings, nearly jumping out of her seat, by someone roughly slamming the door open, and into the room came her first classmate. A boy, short, freckled, kind of plain looking, with a mess of spiky curls of a multitude of shades of green for hair, his student uniform haphazardly worn, with no tie to speak of, and a set of goggles with bright, lime green lenses resting on his forehead. The new arrival took a curious glance around the room, before his blood-red eyes fell on her.

The dark-haired girl could not help but blink in confusion as the boy looked her up and down. Now, Momo was well aware that she had a… rather well-developed figure for her age, and she was no stranger to being looked at by boys, annoying as it was. What confused her however, was how there was no lecherousness or interest of that sort in the guy's look. It honestly felt more like he was sizing her up. For what reason, she couldn't guess.

With a shrug, the boy broke off his staring and glanced around once again, before moving to sit a couple of desks in front of her, taking something out of his bag. Despite herself, she leaned a bit forward when she saw it was a small screwdriver and what appeared to be some sort of computer motherboard, which he began fiddling with, looking almost completely oblivious to the world around him.

…

"Hherm, excuse me?" Momo ventured, after a few moments of staring at him in confusion. At her call, the boy stopped, then slowly turned to look at her with a face of mild surprise, as if he honestly had not expected to be addressed.

"Yah?"

"Are you… perhaps from the support course? Because if so this is the wrong room." She inquired, her calm and detached demeanour bellying her anxiousness.

"Nah, I'z here for dah Hero course. Diz' dah right room, class 1-A, I triple checked." He grunted, surprising Momo with the odd, thick accent she couldn't quite pin down, as he seemingly lost interest and returned to whatever it was he was doing. "I'z only need tah head tah support aftah-huugh, classes. Sumthin' bout Powah Loadah callin'on me."

"I see…" The pony-tailed girl replied, not quite sure what to make of that, and feeling quite embarrassed at her first interaction with a classmate being her confusing him for a student of another course. Not exactly the best first impression.

A bit of an awkward silence fell, as the boy kept doing whatever it was he was doing and Momo wondered whether she should try to make proper introductions.

Just as she opened her mouth to speak however, the door opened again, this time to a familiar face. A boy with hair split straight down the middle in red and white, a sizeable patch of scarred skin on the left side of his face, turquoise and grey eyes coldly sweeping across the room. Shoto Todoroki, the other recommended student assigned to the class. She knew him only as a passing acquaintance from their entry exam, as well as his reputation as the son of Endeavor, the number two hero.

The new arrival's heterochromatic eyes briefly fell upon her, the boy giving her a small nod of acknowledgement which she returned, before they slid further down towards the other student in the room, who just kept fiddling away at the piece of hardware in his hands, only after a while seemingly realizing he was being observed. Blinking owlishly, big red eyes looked up into the other boy's own, starting a stare off that seemed oddly tense to Momo, one side oddly curious, the other cold and calculating, and neither willing to budge. Was this a boy thing of some sort?

The green-haired boy suddenly surprised her when he flashed a wide, disturbingly feral looking grin at Todoroki, looking for all the world like he was spoiling for a fight. This seemed to even confuse the other boy, if the raising of his eyebrow was anything to go by, before he shook his head and fully entered the room, taking the seat beside her, and the green-haired boy, looking mildly disappointed, simply returned to what he was doing.

After that, their other classmates began arriving, alone or in small groups, taking their seats or joining up to chat, the room retaining an air of relative quietness until…

"YOU!"

The outburst had come from the newest student to arrive, a tall boy in glasses, with neatly combed dark blue hair and eyes, who actually also looked kind of familiar to Momo, who was pointing rather dramatically towards the green-haired boy.

"Oh, it's you." He grumbled as he glanced up at the new intrusion. "Wotcha want?"

With a heavy frown on his face, the new arrival marched towards the focus of his attention, a tension around him that made the pony-tailed girl suddenly feel concerned…

"I am Tenya Iida, previously from Somei Academy!" He declared as he stood before the other guy… and proceeded to bow at a 45-degree angle, narrowly avoiding slamming his head on the desk, as he spoke more quietly through gritted teeth, as if he was swallowing his pride to do this. "And I owe you an apology. I misjudged you during the entrance exam. While I don't think I can condone your behaviour, you proved yourself the better hero that day, figuring out the true purpose of the test."

Momo's interest was piqued at that. The taller boy, Tenya, who she now recognized as the son of the renowned Iida family, was admitting the guy with the goggles did better than him in the exam? She wondered what their entrance exam entailed and what exactly happened between the two…

"Uuuuuhhh…" Goggles hesitated, staring at the bowing boy with confused surprise, like he wasn't really used to getting apologies and not sure how to proceed. "It's alright, I guess?"

"Oh hey, it's you!" Another voice cut in, as another newcomer, a horned girl with vivid pink skin and black sclerae, skipped over to the boy's seat with a big friendly grin.

"Oh, it's Pinky." The boy commented as he saw her approach.

"Yep, it's me!" The girl replied cheerily. "Name's Mina Ashido, and I never thanked you for saving my bacon back in the exam. I really owe you for that."

"Uh… You'ze welcome?" He replied uncertainly. Momo couldn't help but think he seemed to be as unused to gratitude as he was to apologies, the way he looked so out of his element.

"Dude, you were awsome out there! Hijacking one of the villain bots and wrecking the others with it was badass!" Mina gushed excitedly as she leaned forward, staring at the still confused-looking boy with big, expectant eyes. "What's your name, anyway?"

Despite herself, the pony-tailed girl couldn't help but pay close attention, also curious about that, while the boy just blinked owlishly.

"I'z-"

"DEKU?!"

All students present turned to the door, where a dirty blond, red-eyed boy was staring at Goggles with a slack face of shocked disbelief. The boy, Deku apparently, actually smiled as he seemingly recognized the newcomer.

"Oh, hey, Ol'Katsu." He said with a wide, excited grin. "Wuldja look at dat, classmates once agin. Wot'd be dem odds?"

As everyone present watched with growing confusion, Katsu's shock seemed to bleed away from his face, giving way to an honestly worrying glower at the green-haired boy.

"Deku," The boy ground out, sounding downright murderous. "What in the everliving fuck are _you_ doing here?"

"Uh, waitin' fer class tah start?"

"…ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" Katsu bellowed in apoplectic rage, startling everyone as crackles of flame began popping from his palms. "How the fuck did _you_ get in?! Were the judges blind, deaf _and_ retarded!? You nearly blew up the entire fucking test area!"

"… Katsuki." Deku replied with a deadpan expression, letting all the anger radiating from the other boy wash over him without a care. "All ya litrally do is blow fings up. Judging eithah o'uz gettin' in or not on dat alone sounds stoopid. Pluz, I only blew up, liek, a fifth of dah place at bezt, or rathah, dah big scrappy did, I juzt blew _him_ up."

Momo's eyes widened in surprise. On the day of the entry exam, the news had been all over how a massive explosion had been visible from within U.A.'s walls, but the school had been tight-lipped on what had happened. That had been his doing?

"That's the guy who destroyed a 0-pointer? Damn, that's manly." Someone muttered in the background, as everyone present seemed to reach that same conclusion.

"That's not the fucking point, you piece of shit!" The enraged blond spat, seemingly all the more incensed by the generally impressed whispering.

"Hey man, what's your problem?" Mina asked, staring disapprovingly at the guy.

"Indeed, your conduct is unbecoming of a U.A. student!" Tenya was quick to concur, waving his arms in rather bombastic if oddly robotic faction. "Harassing a fellow student on the first day is a deplora-"

"Shut up, you damn extras, this is none of your fucking business!" The boy, Katsuki, spat at them with surprising venom, shocking the duo into quietness, but before he could open his mouth for more profanity-

"Oh, it's you! The green-haired boy!"

… Just how many people recognized this guy?

The newest speaker had been the latest, and if Momo was counting right probably last, student to enter the classroom, a brown-haired girl with a soft round face. Upon realizing that her outburst had drawn the entire class' attention to her, her already rosy cheeks reddened even further in embarrassment, and when her head went back and forth between Deku and Katsuki, she flinched awkwardly for some reason.

"Am I… interrupting something again?" She ventured shyly.

"Nah, it'z fine, Roundy." The green-haired boy saw fit to break the silence, throwing a glance at the other boy, as if amused by a joke only the two of them were privy to. "Dun' mind Ol'Splody here. He needz tah blow off steam erry' now an' den lezt he blows up. T'zall in good fun."

Momo almost did a double take at that, flabbergasted by the boy's words. Surely, he couldn't possibly be misinterpreting the blond boy's caustic aggressiveness for _friendliness,_ could he?

"THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY, YOU BASTARD?! I'LL _FUCKING MURDER-"_ Katsuki proceeded to let loose a stream of profanities, many of which Momo had never even heard of, leaving the pony-tailed girl, alongside a decent junk of the students who were now slowly inching away from the ranting teen, mortified. The target of his anger however, just looked on with a smirk that seemed somewhere between feral and fond. Then however, his expression suddenly shifted to confusion as his eyes fell on something behind the raving blond and the awkward brunette, something outside her field of vision.

"Oi," He voiced said confusion. "Wot'z dat big bug doing dere?"

Momo blinked in confusion at the apparent non sequitur, which only increased as Katsuki looked behind him, his expression shifting from murderous to uncomprehending, and the brunette Eeep'ed in fright and staggered back upon doing the same.

"If you're here for friendly conversation or empty boasts, the door is right behind me. Get to your seats."

The pony tailed girl, and most others too far back from the entrance, nearly did the opposite and jumped out of their seats at the blunt, bored-sounding voice, even more so when a large, yellow, caterpillar-like thing rose from the ground at the room's entrance, shedding what turned out to be a yellow sleeping bag and revealing itself as a scruffy looking man with black hair and outfit and a weird dark gray scarf.

"This is the Hero course, you kids need to be far quicker on the uptake if you want to make it here." The man drawled in a bored, unimpressed tone as he looked around the room to the students scrambling for their seats, before reaching down to pull something from his sleeping bag. "I am your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. Inside your desks you will find uniforms like this, take them, go get dressed, and meet me out in the main field. You have fifteen minutes."

"But… what about orientation?" The brunette ventured hesitantly, mirroring Momo's own thoughts if she was being honest.

"As I said, this is the Hero course." Aizawa-sensei retorted. "U.A. is know for giving its teachers a lot of freedom in their teaching, and I don't see the need for such frivolities. You now have fourteen minutes."

With that, the entire class scrambled to do as they were told. Far as first days went, Momo couldn't help but think this was certainly something outside the norm.

/

Fourteen minutes later found the whole class suitably suited up and out in the field, spread in a rough semicircle around their apparent teacher.

"Now then, we are going to be doing a quirk apprehension test." The man drawled, sounding more asleep than awake. "Izuku Midoriya."

"Yah?" The boy with the goggles replied, looking pretty bored himself.

'Oooooohhhhhh', the quarter composed of Momo, Mina, Ochako and Tenya thought simultaneously. 'So _that's_ his name…'

"You ranked the highest in the entry exam-"

"WHAT?!" Katsuki all but exploded at the words, while muttering spread through the others like wildfire.

"Pipe down." Aizawa replied uncaringly, his annoyed stare cutting the blond off from spouting more profanities, before he turned back to the green-haired boy. "What's the furthest you could throw in ball toss exercises back in your old school?"

"Huuuuhh…" The boy blinked, face scrunching up as he struggled to recall. "Not sure… 'Bout forty-sumthin meters, I fink?"

"Allright." The man grunted, half-heartedly throwing a ball that the teen promptly caught. "Get in the circle and try again. This time, use your quirk."

"Really?!" Izuku perked up, suddenly _a lot_ more interested in the proceedings.

"I won't know what I've got to work with if I don't see what you are all capable of." The teacher replied with a hint of exasperation. "These tests will be my measuring stick of where you stand at with your quirks. Enter the circle, and as long as you don't leave it in any way, anything goes."

Oddly enough, the man did not miss how the angry blond teen looked momentarily panicked at his words.

"Aye, aye, sir!" Izuku cheered, a shit eating-grin on his face as he made his way to the circle. "Now we'z talkin'! Lesse here…"

To the confusion of all but two of the students present, who slowly inched away to the back of the group, the green-haired boy reached for his pocket, mumbling to himself all the while.

Then their eyes bugged out in shock, as in a scene straight out of a morning cartoon, the boy pulled a _freaking massive bazooka_ , a ramshackle looking thing, little more than a large steel cylinder with a welded trigger and side-grip, nearly as tall as he was.

"Awight den." He said cheerily, dropping the ball inside the barrel and mounting the contraption on his shoulder, taking aim at the sky. " _FIRE'IN DAH HOLE!"_

 _Click!_

…

…

…

Nothing happened.

"What the z- wait, w-what?"

Initially seemingly confused at the misfire, suddenly the boy started displaying an odd shift in demeanour. He began nervously inspecting the weapon, his expression suddenly and increasingly more nervous.

Gone were the boisterousness and the cheerfulness, the almost too wide grin, in their place only wide, uncomprehending eyes and an almost trembling lip. Then he looked around, timidly avoiding the other students general direction. Something was off, it felt like there was something missing that by all rights should be there…

"W-why did it get so q-quiet?" Izuku mumbled, a picture of meekness.

"So it's true." Aizawa's voice broke the confused silence, drawing the boy's wide, teary, dark green eyes to him, the see the man staring him down, eyes glowing red and hair floating ominously. "Your creations need your quirk to actually function, however that actually works."

"You're E-Eraserhead." The boy stuttered timidly, eyes wide in recognition and worry. "Y-you should s-stop that…"

"You think villains will stop just because you're asking?" The newly revealed underground hero questioned, somewhat scathingly.

"N-no, I mean…"

"I have to say, this does not seem practical. Without your quirk, you're a sitting duck. What will you do, besides being a burden to those working alongside you, if someone comes along like me who can take it away?"

"It's not me who does anything." The boy said, now sounding outright frantic. "Please, turn it off before you-!"

Suddenly, the world seemed to slow down for Aizawa, freezing as shades of green seemed to dance at the edges of his vision. Slowly, a noticeable and uncomfortable pressure begun building at the back of his eyes, and as he looked straight at the kid's, for a split second he could've sworn he saw a flickering spark there. A weird weight seemed to settle on his head, an unpleasant sensation, almost like something scratching at the back of his brain-

 _"LEZZ GO, LEZZ GO, LADZ! HEAVE'OH, HEAVE'OH, WAAAAAAAAAGHHH!"_

Something slammed the man square in the face, sending him flying backwards, to the students' momentary shock and panic. The man briefly tumbled, completely blindsided, before instinct kicked in and he rolled with the attack, landing on his feet. It took a bit longer than he cared to admit to shake the blurriness from his head, only to then be greeted by pain lancing through his face. A tentative touch in the affected area had him wincing. It felt like he'd been punched by a villain with a strength enhancing quirk, and he was sure it was gonna bruise. Slowly, his hazy vision focused back on the blood red eyes glaring at him.

"…What was that, Midoriya?" He asked.

"You'ze shuldn't a done dat." The green-haired boy said, a serious frown on his face. "Me quirk's always on. I can'tz shut it down and it dun like bein' told what tah do. You wuz tryin' to tell it wot to do, so it slugged ya, liek it does erry time sumthin' tries tah supress it. I wuz warnin' ya tah stop, but you wuzn't listenin'."

Shock surged through the underground hero as he saw the meaning in the boy's words. He hadn't been fumbling with the loss of the crutch of his quirk, he was trying to keep Aizawa himself from getting hurt by a quirk that reacted poorly to outside influence…

"Now, can I do dah toss or not?" The boy asked, holding up the scrap bazooka.

Before answering, the hero took a glance to the rest of the class, to gauge their reactions to what had just happened. Some, like Bakugou, stood with jaws dropped, flabbergasted, others, like Uraraka, flinched away from his gaze as they stared on with undisguised worry, and others yet, like Todoroki, just coolly observed.

"Eh," The teacher ultimately chuckled, smirking despite himself. "Alright, we've wasted enough time as it is. Get it done, Midoriya."

"Aye, aye." The kid said with a smirk, before resuming a firing stance. "As I wuz sayin', _FIRE IN DAH HOLE!"_

A loud explosion roared across the field, making many of the assembled students wince and one in particular hold her ears in pain, as the ball was launched high into the sky, leaving behind a trail of smoke as it soared.

Aizawa watched it go, until it disappeared into the horizon, before checking a small screen that he pulled from his pocket. With a grunt of mild surprise, he lazily turned it towards the other students for all to see.

It read 800 meters.

"There's eight tests for you to do." The man said, his gaze (somewhat less intimidating than he intended on account of his left eye swiftly swelling shut) sweeping through the most recent batch of prospective heroes. "You're expected to use your quirks to the best of your abilities in each and every one, so be inventive, think outside the box, and show me what you've got. As the motto of our school goes, Plus Ultra. Show me if you've got what it takes to go beyond."

Some of them glanced around at each other, and quite visibly, the confusion and nervousness was bleeding out of them, to be replaced by resolve and determination.

A decent start, the underground hero found. And now for the finishing touch.

"Oh," He continued, a wide grin on his face. "And the student that comes in last will be considered to have no potential and be expelled."

Aizawa knew he had a reputation as a stern and humourless teacher. But as he saw the predictably horrified faces at his declaration, well, let it never be said that there weren't things about his job that the Erasure Hero loved.

 ** _/_**

 ** _Welp, that's that for now. Hope you guys liked how things went down. How will the tests go? Will anyone get expelled? And how does Izuku pull weapons from his pockets like a Looney Tunes reject?_**

 ** _All will be revealed in due time, so I hope you stick around to find out._**

 ** _Next up, I'll be updating Through the Eternities, so look forward to that._**

 ** _Cya all on the next one._**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Howdy folks, how's it going?_**

 ** _Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season._**

 ** _And now here we are, for the final update of the year, the next chapter of 'Ere We Go, Pluz Ultra!_**

 ** _As always, huge shout out to Chaos for his continued help._**

 ** _And as always, I do not own either BNHA nor Warhammer 40K. If I did, Momo would still be packing her prototype hero suit, and we'd know for a fact whether or not the Tyranids are running away from something._**

 ** _With this all out of the way, enjoy the last update I'll provide ya in 2019!_**

 ** _/_**

After that first rather… unconventional performance, Aizawa-sensei decided to get the ball toss exercise out of the way first. One by one, her fellow students did their throws, and a few noteworthy attempts included Bakugou, who for some reason was left seething at the fact he had managed a respectable 689m, shooting dirty looks at Midoriya all the while, and Uraraka, who blew everyone else out of the water when her toss sent the ball into outer orbit, setting her score at infinity.

Pretty soon it got to Momo's turn, and as the pony-tailed girl made her way into the circle, she considered her options. How could she both make a good toss and leave a good impression on their teacher? Not that she believed for a second that the expulsion threat was real, for in her mind it really just didn't seem feasible for UA to get rid of prospective heroes so early on in their education, but still, like Aizawa-sensei had said, it couldn't hurt for a hero to think outside the box.

So, she thought as she hummed ponderingly, out of all the things she knew how to make, and therefore had at her disposal, what would be the most effective in this situation…?

… Well, perhaps this it'd cost her a few points for lack of originality since Midoriya had beaten her to the punch, but how did the saying go? If it's not broken, don't fix it?

Making her decision, the tall girl unzipped the bottom of her training uniform, leaving her lower torso bare, not giving much thought to the reactions of some of her male fellow students (although the diminutive boy with the purple orbs for hair was particularly disturbing with his drooling…), and as she focused, the sparkling light that came with her quirk's activation shone around her belly, as it generated a grey, metallic barrel. For the sake of a bit more variety, she opted to create a cannon, setting the weapon on the ground before her. Quickly checking for any imperfections and satisfied that she had found none, Momo promptly placed the ball in the barrel, made a few quick calculations to angle it properly, and proceeded to pull the lever.

The explosive burst that ensued as the cannon roared and the projectile went flying wasn't quite as loud as the previous artillery assisted throw, but still it netted her an even better score at 900m. And so satisfied, she turned and walked back towards the rest of the students, secretly somewhat embarrassed by the surprised and approving looks and comments she was getting…

…Only to stumble and nearly fall flat on her ass in surprise when she found Midoriya in her personal space, his face dangerously close to her own as he stared up at her with a steely, stern frown.

"…Did you just create a perfectly functional cannon from your stomach?" He asked, in a rumbling, deathly serious tone, to which Momo blinked, her mind taking a bit longer than usual to process the words through the surprise at the sudden and from what little she knew uncharacteristic way the odd boy was addressing her.

"Uuuh, yes, sort of…?" She ended up replying uncertainly, feeling a bit nervous that she may have angered him by surpassing him with his own trick… "Why do you ask…?"

"Why?" Midoriya grunted, nearly sending Momo into a panic at how seemingly incensed her question made him… Then he broke into a grin so wide and cheerful it was a wonder how his face didn't split open, a downright ecstatic glint in his red eyes. "CUZ DAT WUZ ZOGGIN' AWSOME, DAT'Z WHY!"

…

"Eehrrm… What?"

"YA JUST POPPED A _BIG_ CANNON _OUTTA YER_ BELLY!" The green-haired boy stressed, gesticulating wildly towards her midsection.

"Well, technically-hey!" Momo gasped in shock, a bright flush crossing her cheeks as the boy crouched down before her and began poking at her stomach at different angles. "P-please, stop t-that, it-it t-tickles…"

"How'z it work?! Wot kindz'a dakka can ya make?! How _much_ dakka can ya makez?!" Midoriya kept prodding, completely unaware of the mortification he was causing her. "Tellmetellmetellmeh!"

And for all her training, for all her upbringing, for all the outwardly controlled if surprised demeanour she was projecting, the pony-tailed girl was _most definitely_ internally panicking right now. Nothing had prepared her for _this_!

The whole spectacle did not go unnoticed by the rest of the class, who looked on with emotions ranging from shock, to amusement, to jealousy.

"That gutsy bastard…" The diminutive, purple-headed student grumbled, teeth practically grinding as he stared at the scene enviously.

"OI!" Another girl, with purple hair and odd extensions in her earlobes, seemingly snapped out of her surprise at the scene and yelled at the green-haired boy. "What do you think you're doing?!"

The words seemed to snap the boy out of whatever rambling daze he was in, as he turned to look at the girl like he'd only now realized she was there, then back to what he was doing, then up at the incredibly embarrassed focus of his attention.

"…Oh whoops." He said, getting up and taking a couple of steps back, not looking all too regretful. "Sorry'bout that. Mah always sez I get too worked up when I see kewl new quirks. And yerz is _really_ kewl."

Momo was honestly too frazzled to be able to form a coherent answer to that, but fortunately she was spared the trouble.

"If you are quite done wasting our time," Aizawa finally cut in, his unimpressed expression and flat tone doing an amazing job of hiding his amusement. "We need to continue with the tests. Oh, and Yaoyoruzu, please get your cannon out of the circle."

The girl flushed a bit more at the words, her embarrassment reaching new heights upon realizing she had indeed left her creation behind just like that. Was she really that used to having her household staff clean up after her…?

She swiftly moved to rectify that mistake, and as they moved on to the next test, and she felt a pair of eyes following her with unerring focus, Momo couldn't help but wonder if using that cannon had been a good idea…

/

The next step took them to an indoors gym, where they were to test their grip strength. Here the ones who excelled the most so far were the bulky Sato, the multi-armed Shoji and Momo herself, who opted to create a vice grip which once again netted her the highest score. She had just let go of the object and allowed herself a satisfied sigh at the result-

"Wwwwooooooaaaaahhh…"

-And immediately opened them to the dangerously close and widely grinning face of Midoriya. Once again, she nearly jumped back in fright. What was the deal with this guy?!

"So ya can make gizmos too?!" The eccentric greenette asked cheerfully. "I got gizmos too, made'em meself, tho not like ya, dah ol'fashioned way! Lookielookielook!"

Not giving her room to get a word in edgewise, he stuffed his hand into a pocket, a focused expression on his face, tongue extended at the corner of his lip and everything, and the pony-tailed girl did a double take at the scene as she noticed his arm sinking into it much further than the fabric should allow as he seemed to rummage for something inside…

"Ah _ah!_ " He exclaimed triumphantly, as he pulled the arm back out, now clad in a massive red gauntlet tipped with a trio of metallic, scythe-like talons.

"Diz' mah powah klaw!" Midoriya declared, that megawatt grin on his face widening even further. Before Momo or anyone else could say anything in reply, he reached down with a surprising amount of dexterity for such an unwieldy and heavy looking contraption and grabbed one of the grip test devices.

It promptly snapped in half between the claws.

…

"…Oh whoops." The boy said eloquently. "Oi, Boss, deez grip thingamajigs be moigty breaky."

Aizawa, for his part, slightly raised an eyebrow at the odd form of addressing him, took a second to look down at the shattered scrap on the floor, and promptly deciding it was not worth the effort, simply marked Midoriya as having the humble score of "Yes."

/

Fortunately, the next few tests went on without any major incidents. Now it was time for the 50meter dash, and for this one the students were paired up. Iida, coming from a long line of speedsters, naturally excelled in this particular trial with a 2.8 second score. Momo herself decided to forgo creating anything this time around, both to save some reserves for the final test and out of a desire to test herself physically, and netted herself a decent 6.9 seconds.

Then came Midoriya's turn, alongside the girl with the earlobe extensions, one Kyoka Jirou.

By this point, the green-haired boy had certainly… left an impression on his fellow students, and most of them gathered expectantly, wondering what sort of shenanigans he was going to pull out of his pocket this time.

They were understandably confused when Aizawa-sensei gave the go ahead, and the two students simply ran. Fast enough to almost blur.

Midoriya reached the finish line first, Jirou just momentarily behind, the boy grinning and the girl looking thoroughly mystified. Their teacher glanced at the chronometer, and did a double take.

"Midoriya, 4.2 seconds. Jirou, 4.4 seconds." He declared, eyebrow raised at the development.

"…Uh." The purple-haired girl voiced, seemingly confused at what just happened. "Guess I'm in better shape than I thought…"

The green haired boy simply grinned as he made his way back to the group, all but skipping in the uniform's bright red shoes.

/

He had to admit, if only to himself, so far, he was kind of impressed.

The final test was the endurance run, where the entire class did circles around the training field. Yaoyoruzu promptly created a small moped (she was understandably confused when she heard Midoriya grumbling about something "not bein' redy yet…") which allowed her to single-handedly dominate the test. By the tail end of it, only Midoriya was still in the running, wide grin ever present on his face as he somehow looked no worse for wear, while even Iida, Bakugou and Kirishima had made herculean efforts to keep up before just about keeling over. It eventually got to the point that Aizawa just plain ordered them to stop as there was little point in extending things any further when it was clear the girl could keep going for as long as the tank had gas and the boy showed no sign of slowing down.

Understandably, it was a very exhausted group of students that stood before the scruffy-looking teacher as the man fiddled with the controls of a screen that had been brought in while they were running.

"Alright then," Aizawa stated, sweeping a dull look across the increasingly more nervous children before he pressed one final button. "Based on what I saw, here are your scores."

The screen flared to life, showing a list of their names, and the hero was quick to gauge the new prospects' reactions. Yaoyoruzu seemed quite satisfied, and going by a few, minute tells he was picking up on, relieved, to find herself in the first place. Midoriya's grin widened massively upon seeing himself in second. Todoroki seemed to take his third place with a more detached aloofness, broken only by side glances at the first two. Bakugou, on the other hand, was very visibly alternating between seething anger and shocked disbelief upon finding himself in fourth, making Aizawa think that he should probably keep an eye on this one. And so it went, down the line, until it reached Mineta at the very bottom of the list, and the kid looked like he was on the verge of despair as tears gathered at the corners of his eyes and his entire body shook in fear.

Ah well, he'd had his fun, and this batch was not too bad all things considered.

"Oh," He said airily, a grin just this side of manic on his face. "And nobody's getting expelled."

3…

2…

1…

"… **WHAT?!"**

 _There_ was the expected reaction from a majority of the class, Mineta being too busy crying snot and tears and having his knees giving out from under him to join in.

"Well, it was fairly obvious it was a ruse…" Yaoyoruzu commented, apparently confused that nobody seemed to have thought of it that way.

Well, we couldn't have someone taking the sting off his little stunt, now could we?

"It was not, Yaoyoruzu." He said, making sure to put some extra effort into his stern frown, which payed off nicely if the way she nearly jumped at the sudden rebuttal was anything to go by. "I would not have hesitated to expel _anyone_ in the class if you hadn't shown me that you had the potential to make it in this line of work. There's nothing crueller than letting someone do something they are clearly not prepared for. It would've been better to nip anyone who wasn't taking this seriously in the bud right now."

A heavy silence fell upon the students as they took in his words. Good, seems like the message got ac-

"Dat'z zoggin' stoopid."

…

…

The tension in the air seemed to increase exponentially as Aizawa slowly swept his stern stare towards Midoriya, the other students nervously watching and shuffling back while the boy blinked owlishly back at him without an ounce of concern on his face, to the kid's credit.

"Oh?" The scruffy hero intoned. "Do you find an issue with my logic, Midoriya?"

"Uuuh, yah?" The green-haired boy, replied, looking genuinely perplexed at the whole situation. "I mean, I guess it works fer all dah sissy quitters, why dah zog wuld anyone dat'z _relly_ wantin' tah be a hero give a zog wotchu think?"

"Is that a fact?" The man commented, his hair beginning to sway ominously as his glare intensified. "And what would you do if I were to expel you right now?"

"I'd go to sum other hero school." Midoriya replied with a careless shrug. "An' if dat one dun take me either, I'd keep goin' and goin' till I found one dat did, and if none do, I'd try sumthin' else. I _want_ tah be a hero, and I'z not about tah let sumthin' dumb liek an opinion get in meh way."

…

…Hhhhmm, quite the spine on this one.

Aizawa slowly glanced around to the other students, who were all staring at the confrontation, and amidst the obvious shock and concern, there was also agreement and respect for their colleague. Gone was the nervousness and uncertainty, to be replaced by determination. Even Bakugou, who had so far showed himself hostile towards the green-haired kid, had a look of grudging approval to him.

Well, Aizawa knew when he was beaten.

" _Your_ opinion, Midoriya," He said at length, keeping the glare up just a bit longer for dramatic effect… before breaking into a small, genuinely amused smirk. "Is duly noted." Then he turned to address the others. "As I was going to say before the interruption, you've all showed me today, one way or another, that none of you has zero potential, and so nobody is gonna be expelled. Make sure to keep it that way. Class is dismissed, just make sure to go pick up your curriculums from the classroom and then you're free to go for the day."

Needing little more prompting than that, the class made to go back to the locker rooms.

And it was at that point that, soon as he tried to take a step, Midoriya promptly faceplanted on the floor, to general surprise and alarm from his peers.

Aizawa was by the green-haired teen in seconds, trying to check for injuries.

"Midoriya, what's wrong?"

"Uh, zognest fing, Boss," The kid replied, voice half muffled by his still having his face glued to the ground. "Can bawely feel muh wegs."

…

…

"Midoriya," The teacher started, feeling a twitch incoming to his eyebrow. "Did you keep running _past_ the point of exhaustion?"

"Uuuh, yah?" Came the reply as the teen turned his head to stare at him confusedly. "You said to keep going till you told us to stop."

…Yup, that was definitely a twitch. As if it hadn't been abundantly clear before, seems like he'd found the problem child of the year.

"I also said to stop if you felt you couldn't handle any more. Knowing your limits is important for a hero, Midoriya." The teacher said with an exasperated sigh, before turning to look questioningly at the others. "Will somebody help Midoriya to the nurse's office?"

"…I'll do it, Aizawa-Sensei."

…Well now, Aizawa like to believe himself to be a man who doesn't easily get surprised, but he'd be lying if he said he had expected Yaoyoruzu in particular to volunteer.

"Very well." He conceded as he got Midoriya to his feet and handed him over to her. "I assume you know the way."

The girl nodded respectfully and proceeded to help the green-haired boy along, and with that the rest of the class begun leaving the field. It wasn't long before the man found himself alone, which made for the perfect time to finally say. "Are you going to come out now?"

An awkward laughter was the answer, as out from the corner of the tool shed came the Number 1 Hero himself. Figured the big lug wouldn't be all too good at stealth.

"Well now, that was quite an interesting performance from the new students." All Might commented as he approached, looking quite frankly ridiculous in that yellow suit. "But I didn't take you of all people to be an actor, Eraserhead. Why try so hard to antagonize the kids? You know they're gonna be getting the full story of your "expulsions" from their sempais eventually."

"They need to learn that the world they're trying to walk into isn't going to coddle them. If they couldn't handle this first setback, then they didn't really deserve to be here." The erasure hero grunted. "Not that it matters much now, I suppose, given how Midoriya rendered the whole point of my little stunt moot."

"Yeah, that was something alright." The blonde mountain of a man agreed, the grin plastered across his face turning slightly stilted. "Speaking of, are you feeling ok? That… whatever it was, had to hurt. You were sent flying nearly halfway across the track!"

Aizawa did not immediately reply, gingerly touching around the area where a black eye was quite clearly forming, wincing as a spike of pain lanced through it.

"…I'm going to need to go see Recovery Girl myself." And preferably before Hizashi got wind of this…

The memory flashed through his mind, of that…weird voice he could've sworn he had heard, if for the faintest of moments.

Midoriya's quirk was definitely unusual, even by the standards of quirks. He would definitely need to keep an eye on this problem child…

/

…Why had she gotten herself into this?

Recovery Girl had been quick to give the eccentric boy a once over and a quick peck on the cheek from her had handled the soreness that was keeping him from moving his legs properly, after which some other matter had drawn the elderly heroine away from the nurse's room, leaving the pony-tailed girl to find herself in the _extremely_ awkward situation of being alone with Midoriya's bright red eyes locked on to her as he sat with his legs dangling off the bed.

Maybe… she should try to say something?

"Hhheeerrrmm, Midoriya-san," She ventured hesitantly, starting to feel _really_ self-conscious with the way his stare just wouldn't budge… "If you are feeling well enough, we should probably head back to cla-"

"Ya never answered me."

Momo blinked, not expecting that particular reply.

"Yer quirk," The boy explained, leaning forward in almost childish eagerness. "Ya never did say how it works."

"Oh, huumm… May I ask why you want to know, Midoriya-san?" She inquired, not really managing to keep from taking a more formal, more guarded tone.

"Cuz it kinda reminds me' ah mine!" The boy replied cheerily, either not picking up on or not really caring about the shift in her demeanour. "I can'z build stuff out uddah stuff, but I needz to get dah stuff from places. Yer quirk seemed liek mine but bettah, so I just wanted tah know how ya do it!"

Momo hesitated. She was no stranger to people being curious about her quirk. Creation was an incredibly versatile and powerful ability, and through the years many people had been drawn to try and have it handy for their own purposes. Business deals, marriage proposals, sucking up at school, the heiress of the Yaoyoruzu family had seen it all. But Midoriya's rather… intense and flattering curiosity seemed like something new, something, dare she say, _genuine_?

Well, as her classmate he'd find out one way or another eventually, so surely, there'd be no harm in it, right?

"Well, my quirk allows me to generate non-organic matter from the lipids in my body. In essence, I can make anything I know the molecular composition of."

…

…

"But yer not fat."

"E-Excuse me?!" The pony-tailed girl all but squeaked, completely unsure on how to take the odd reply, which was _not_ the answer she was expecting, and definitely not one she had ever heard before.

"I mean," The boy elaborated, scratching at his messy mop of a hairdo in confusion. "Ya popped a cannon, a vice, a bike and all dem other thingamajigz out for dah tests. All dat metal, all dem components… Now I wuz nevah much good with school stuff an'dah liek, but unless ya wuz fat, liek, Fat Gum fat, shuldn't ya be all skin'n bonez, roigt now?"

…

…

…

…What?

Just…

 _Wwwwhhhaaattt?!_

"I… But, I mean, I think… I, I, I-" Try as she might, Momo found herself unable to come up with an answer, jaw working up and down as she _desperately_ tried to rationalize an explanation for the _very good point_ Midoriya had just made, and that she _somehow_ had never considered before.

She failed miserably.

And Midoriya became quite confused upon seeing her slowly slumping back into one of the room's chairs, a wide-eyed, slack-jawed look on her face.

"Oi."

"Yeah…?"

"Ya feelin' awight?"

"Oh, yes, quite alright. I just… Feel like I've had my whole worldview turned on its axis…"

"Wot?"

"You just pointed out to me that I don't make sense according to the laws of physics, Midoriya-san…I am shocked and confused… Because I really don't know how to answer you…"

"Well, dat seemz easy enuff."

"Come again…?"

"Doez it really matter how yer quirk relly works, longs as ye know it doez?"

"I… suppose not?"

"Well, there ya go, den. N'by the way, ya want me tah see'bout callin' Recovery Gurl back? Yer lookin' a lil' pale dere…"

"No, no, it's quite fine, I don't think she can help me with this… I just… need some time to think."

"…If ya say so." The boy replied with a shrug. "I wuldn't worry too much, I'z sure ya'll figure it out. Zog knowz we'll have dah time fer it. But now, I prolly should go, Powah Loadah still wantz tah see me' fore dah day'z over. Cya later, Buildy Girl!"

With that he was off without a care in the world, leaving a very confused Momo to try to figure out what just happened…

/

"Hhhheeyyy, Aizawa, how'd the thing gooo _o-_ Bwahahahahahahahah! Oh, holy crap, did one of the little listeners finally lose their temper with ya?!"

…Of _fucking_ course Hizashi had to be the only one in the teacher's lounge when he got there. The logic of trying to get a bit more work done before having Recovery Girl take a look at him seemed to have backfired for once.

"No, Mic, I was not punched by one of the students." The Erasure Hero said with a long-suffering sigh. "One of the quirks had an adverse reaction to being erased and the backlash did this."

"…You got punched by a kid." The Voice Hero concluded with a shit-eating grin, not for the first time having Aizawa wondering why he bothered being friends with the bastard. "So which one of the little listeners did ya in? The sugar boy? The one with the tentacles, though he didn't really seem the type? Or was it the explosive one?"

"None of those. It was Midoriya's quirk."

"Uh, really, my favourite of the new batch?" Hizashi grunted, clearly surprised by the development. "Sure, the lil'green bean seemed really enthusiastic about being here, but I didn't think he'd have it in him. You gonna expel him? Cause that'd be a damned shame…"

"I'm not expelling anyone." Aizawa replied, annoyance plain to see on his expression. Yeeessh, you pull _one_ little scare tactic _once_ at it haunts you for life… "Like I keep telling you, it wasn't the kid himself. His quirk seems to be… sapient in some way, and it lashed out when I tried to erase it to prove a point. Kid even tried to warn me off."

"Uh," Was the intelligent reply. "So a living quirk let's the kid build whack machines? How does that work?"

Finally, a valid question, and one that Aizawa was lacking answers for at this moment. But he was going to be keeping an eye on the kid, and he'll be damned if he's not going to find out…

"Now that I think of it," Hizashi continued, ponderingly. "Didn't Power Loader want to see the kid about-"

The blond hero found himself being interrupted by the loud bang of the door being smashed open, and the duo looked back to see the aforementioned hero stomping in. Now, at the best of times, it was generally rather hard to tell how the Excavation Hero was feeling, what with that impractical monstrosity he called a helmet and all that, but in this particular instance, Aizawa couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at how the man's whole demeanour just _screamed_ frustration, irritation and… fright?

"Heerhhh…" Hizashi ventured awkwardly, clearly reading the mood. "Everything alright, Loader?"

The almost feral looking yellow helmet suddenly snapped towards them with unnerving focus, and it was with increasing confusion and a small bit of concern that Aizawa saw the other man stomp towards him, grab him by the collar of his uniform, and bodily lift him off the ground.

"Aizawa," Power Loader grumbled, in a tone of voice that sounded almost… manic? "For the love of everything that is holy and true on this good earth… _You will keep that kid away from the Support Department studios at all times, got it?"_

…

…

The Erasure Hero had always prided himself for being a collected, logical man, but he had to admit, he was kind of drawing a blank here…

"Is this about the Villain-bot unit?" He ventured, trying to piece together the cause for this erratic behaviour.

"He _defiled_ the damn thing! It's beyond recovery now! And, and, and nothing he has on him makes sense, and he's _broken the laws of physics with a FUCKING_ bicycle light and I-I…I just _can't_ deal with that!" Power Loader ranted, his tone frantic and frightened like only someone on the verge of a breakdown could… "I already have _one_ beacon of insanity in my class. I cannot handle two. _The world_ couldn't handle them. They cannot meet, they _mustn't_ meet… so for the sake of _everyone_ , Eraserhead, _do not let that kid near my studios_!"

With his piece said, the Excavation Hero unceremoniously dropped the mystified focus of his rant and stomped out of the room.

…

…

…

"Ooooooookkk…" Hizashi supplied unhelpfully. "What the fuck was that?"

That's what Aizawa would like to know…

/

Later that evening, Momo found herself in her room, taking a soothing sip of tea as she considered the events of the day. Frankly, it hadn't been quite what she had expected. From Aizawa-sensei's sternness, to all the tests, to her classmates, UA was surely quite unlike anything in her entire academic life up to this point.

Unwittingly, her thoughts trailed back to a certain green-haired boy, and how casually he had butted into her life and turned a great deal of it upside down…

Out of everyone in the class, or out of everyone she had ever met, for that matter, Midoriya was by far the oddest, and now she was going to have to learn to live with that oddity during the next three years…

… Well, she couldn't help but think ruefully, at least it seemed like things were going to be… eventful?

…

…

…

"Wait…" The pony-tailed girl started, as sudden realization dawned on her. "What happened to my cannon and moped…?"

/

The loud bang of the door being kicked open heralded her son's return, and so Inko Midoriya was there at their home's entrance, to see the boy stomping in, his cheery grin just that slight bit wider.

"Welcome back, Izuku." She greeted with her indulgent little smile. "How was the first day of school?"

"T'waz awsome, Mah!" The boy answered boisterously. "I'z made a friend! She'z _relly_ kewl! Gave meh sum awsome giftz'n errythin'!"

 ** _/_**

 ** _The madness continues, and it spreads its roots…_**

 ** _If you'll allow me a bit of a rant, Mineta's not going anywhere in this story. I mean, do not get me wrong, I dislike the little bastard as much as the next guy, but the tendency writers seem to have of just doing away with him right at the beginning has become so common of late that it honestly has thrown me off some otherwise potentially good stories. I mean, why take the easy way out and nip his presence at the bud, when it can be so much more fun to have him as a readily available target of comedic suffering, and even perhaps be given a chance and being genuinely a better character in the doing?_**

 ** _Besides, he's a grot-sized lil' git and I am not about to just let that perfect opportunity for mayhem slide, so he's staying, and I think yer all gonna like it._**

 ** _With that said, in this upcoming (or already here depending on your time zone) brand new year, we're gonna start things out with the next Through the Eternities, so look forward to that._**

 ** _A Happy New Year, to ya'll, with my sincere thanks for sticking with me this far, and my hopes that what I have planned for 2020 will entertain you as well._**

 ** _Cya'all on the next one!_**


	5. Chapter 5

**_Howdy, folks, how's it going?_**

 ** _Hope you guys have been keeping safe._**

 ** _As always, shout out to Chaos for his aid._**

 ** _I own neither WH40K nor BNHA. If I did, more Primarchs would've returned by now in the former and Pony would've been part of class 1-A in the latter for an equal spread of recommendation and foreign students in both classes._**

 ** _And now, on with the show._**

 ** _/_**

The next day saw an actual beginning to the school activities of class 1-A, which was to say, classes. And besides the fact that all of their teachers were licensed heroes, the first half of the day felt to the hopeful heroes-in-training surprisingly… mundane. English with Present Mic, modern literature with Cementoss, pretty much everything that could remind them that for all the flash and glamour, U.A. was still a school, and they were still expected to pay attention, take notes, study, and get good grades.

Honestly, only two interesting things happened so far, in the "weird and unusual occurrence" kind of way. The first had been right at the beginning of the day, as the students had been arriving, when Iida took issue with Midoriya taking a screwdriver and some sort of contraption out of nowhere and tried to get the other boy to cease and desist with his breaches of the academy's dress code and proper class behaviour. He was promptly ignored until in his ever-increasing frustration he tried to reach towards the offending items… only to be frozen in place by a withering glare from the shorter boy.

"Touch dah goggles and I'z breakin' yer arm."

Iida wisely decided to leave well enough alone after that.

The second one, perhaps unsurprisingly also involving Midoriya, had been the aghast look of horror and betrayal on his face when Ectoplasm arrived to begin the math lesson, followed by slamming his face into his desk with a groan that dripped despair and mutters that sounded suspiciously like "Thot I wuz free…".

That earned a few confused blinks.

Now though, it was time for the afternoon classes, and the mood around the classroom was quite electric, as the students chattered away about what was soon to come. The only ones who did not seem to share in the eager mood were Bakugou, who looked somewhere between grumpy and constipated, Todoroki, who looked pretty apathetic and, surprisingly enough, Midoriya, who seemed to consider whatever it was that he was fiddling with infinitely more interesting than the rampant speculation.

"So, you guys really think All Might's gonna be the one teaching us?" Sero, a plain faced boy with oddly shaped elbows, inquired to no one in particular.

"Hell yeah!" Kirishima replied with a wide grin of shark-like teeth, "I'm so psyched about it. It's gonna be manly as hell!"

"I dunno, man." Kaminari commented, shaking his blond-haired head sceptically. "I mean, yeah, he's a teacher here now, but you'd think he'd probably focus more on the third years, ya know, the more experienced students?"

"…Uh, yeah, I suppose that would make sense." The redhead reluctantly agreed to the point, his excited demeanour dimmer.

"Shows what you gits know." Another voice interjected, surprising the three boys and a fair chunk of the students listening in when they realized it had been Midoriya that talked. It was the accent, or lack thereof. It threw them off.

"Uuuh, what do you mean?"

"All Moigt's gonna be here soon." The boy who already had a fairly strong reputation as the class' oddball said, without really looking up from his work. "No point in guessing 'bout what's gonna happen."

"Dude, how are you so certain?" Kaminari couldn't help but ask with a raised eyebrow.

This time the green-haired boy did look up, eyes covered by his bright green goggles as he answered with a wide grin, before turning his attention back to his work, all while Iida looked like he was eating a lemon. Before anything else could be said, however…

"I AM…"

The excited chatter that had been going on died as every single head in the room turned to the entrance.

"…COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"

Right on time to see the Symbol of Peace himself bustle through the entrance in a way that no sane person would consider normal, in all his red, white, blue, and golden glory. Needless to say, the chatter immediately returned with a vengeance.

"Wow, it really _is_ All Might!"

"Holy crap, he's really gonna be teaching us!"

"Uh, that's the Silver Age costume, very retro-"

"AH!"

The loud shout startled just about the entire class, as everyone present turned to the source. Midoriya again (and they were starting to see the pattern here), pointing at the number 1 hero with a triumphant grin on his face.

"Ya hear dat, All Moigt?" The boy stated, sounding supremely pleased even as the hero in question chuckled bemusedly. "Dey'z recognized da outfit. Ya lost dah bet!"

…

More than one student blinked at that, not really sure what to make of what was being said. Their confusion was not diminished in the slightest when All Might replied easily.

"Indeed, my boy. It seems like I underestimated the enthusiasm of the newest generation of heroes. Should've known better." He said, rubbing the back of his neck in an awkward gesture the likes of which none of the students had ever seen in the hero.

"Ye wore dat hardware fer a third of yer career, 'course even gits like uz woulda known about it. Mah lunch fer dah next week is on ya now!" Midoriya replied, his expression downright smug at this point.

"Now, now, Young Midoriya, you know that gloating is unbecoming of a proper hero." All Might chastised, with no real bite behind an amused grin.

"You'z dah bezt zoggin' Hero in dah world. I'z gun take mah wins where I can get'em." Midoriya retorted without missing a beat.

And the other students could only watch the back and forth, looking increasingly more lost and confused as they did. Eventually, it fell upon the frog-like Tsuyu, more collected than her peers, to voice what all of them were thinking.

"…Do you two know each other?"

"Uh? Oh yeah." Midoriya started, looking at her as if only now realizing there were more people in the room. "All Moigt and I'z budz. He thought dat wearing dat costume would "take dah sting off his presence" a bit. I told him dere'z no way at least one'a you'ze wouldn't have known about it, so we'z bet on it." He turned his almost too wide grin towards Kaminari. "Thanks fer dah week of free lunches."

…

…

…

No one in the class knew what to make of that. Bakugou least of all, going by the way his jaw was working up and down and his eyes were bulging to the point they threatened to pop out of their sockets in a textbook expression of stunned disbelief.

All Might and fucking Deku, _friends_? _When in the everliving FUCK had that happened?_

He had just begun opening his mouth to scream the thought when All Might's trademark laugh cut through the awed silence like a knife.

"It's true." The number 1 hero confirmed easily. "Young Midoriya and I have known each other for a while. However, don't you think this means I'm giving you preferential treatment, my boy. As a teacher I must be fully impartial."

"I'd be insulted if ya did. I mean, where'd be the fun in dat?" The green-haired boy replied, sounding genuinely confused.

"Outstanding! However, I think we've strayed a bit." All Might cleared his throat, then gave one of trademark grins, so pristine you could see a twinkle in his pearly white teeth (" _Magnifique!",_ muttered one flamboyant blond student). "Welcome, children, to Basic Hero Training! Today we are starting things off with a bang!"

"Zog yeah!"

"Not literally, Young Midoriya."

"Awwww…"

"As I was saying, today we are starting things off with this!" He pulled a card from somewhere and held it before the class, a big bold red "Combat Training" plain for all to see. "So stand up and get ready to head towards Ground Beta. Oh, and I almost forgot…"

A press of a button later had a series of hidden compartments on the wall opening up, revealing a series of suitcases.

"These are the costumes that have been provided for you in accordance to your quirk registry and your submitted request forms." His gaze swept across the room, taking in the growing excitement in the students as they quickly connected the dots. "Pick them up, ladies and gentlemen. Go get dressed and _then_ meet up over in the training ground."

A series of whoops and cheers were the hero's reward, but then someone noticed something off.

"Uh, All Might-sensei?" Ochaco voiced timidly. "Why are there only 19 suitcases?"

The man, and a good chunk of the class at that, did a double take at that, only now realizing that indeed, there was an empty spot there.

…

…

"Young Midoriya." The number 1 hero called out. "You never submitted the form, did you?"

"Nope." The boy confirmed, sounding like he didn't see much of an issue. "Ya knowz I make me own stuff."

"Of course you do…" Was the weary reply, All Might's trademark grin turning into a more neutral, and perhaps a bit nervous, smile. "Did you at least take care of all the paperwork for that?"

"Mah did, yeah."

"And you've got nothing lethal on hand, I hope?"

"Cuz dat worked out so well last time with dah scrappy gits, didnit?" Midoriya retorted sarcastically, throwing the number 1 hero a deadpan stare.

"Young Midoriya…"

"Yeah, yeah, I swear yer worse than mah… I ain't packin' anythin' killy."

"Good." The hero then turned to the rest of the class, grinning again. "Well, time's a 'wasting, Ladies and Gentlemen. Off you go!"

And so the class did, their overall excitement just slightly numbed by some confusion regarding that interaction.

This was gonna become a regular thing, wasn't it?

/

As he looked upon a prospective new generation of heroes walking towards him, and the notion that he was supposed to teach them and nurture their development finally and truly sank in, it suddenly dawned on All Might that he _really_ had no idea what he was doing. I mean, sure, he understood the necessity of it, he was trying to both justify his ever decreasing number of appearances and his search for a worthy successor, but still what had Nezu been thinking letting him take the roll of a teacher when he had literally zero experience at it?!

…Ah who was he kidding, the principal was probably thinking it was going to be funny as hell, and he'd been too desperate at the time to realize it.

But what's done is done, now he had to survive this class.

He was the number 1 hero, how bad could it be?

"Looking good, ladies and gentlemen!" He called out to the assembled students. "Image is a very important part of the job, and you all are certainly looking the part! Now, we just need to start shaping you to fit the part!" He did a quick head count then… "Before we can begin, seems like we're still missing someone."

"I'z here." An easily recognizable voice replied, as Midoriya finally arrived from the locker rooms.

There were a few moments of silence as everyone stopped to consider the late arrival, more than one eyebrow being raised at his choice of costume. In some ways, it was fairly mundane, a brownish green tank top, which revealed a surprisingly well-developed musculature for so short a kid, camo pants, steel-toed boots, with thick, brown leather gloves, belt and apron of all things making up the base ensemble.

But then on top of that, there was a plate of steel that could charitably be called a cuirass strapped to his chest, the dark grey metal clearly dented from being hammered into shape, and held in place partly by the large strips of metal doubling as shoulderpads, painted with a checkered black and white pattern for some reason, and strapped to his back was something that at first glance could be mistaken for a backpack, but actually was some sort of red-painted device, what appeared to be a motor boat engine welded into a rectangular toolbox with a radio antenna popping out of the top.

Finishing the ensemble his goggles were still strapped to his forehead, and twin streaks of motor oil had been painted across his cheeks.

Overall, more than a hero, he looked like some odd combination of a soldier, a blacksmith and a post-apocalyptic movie character.

"Sorry I'z late," The boy said as he stepped into place alongside the others. "Had a couple'o gizmos needin' sum last minute tunin'."

"Just don't make a habit of it, my boy. Now then, we can begin the class." The number 1 hero addressed the students, hands to his hips in a heroic pose that almost seemed to set beacons of light flowing from behind him. "And we are gonna kick things off with some indoors combat training!"

It took a few seconds for his words to sink in, and as All Might was preparing to elaborate-

"What will be the exact nature of the exercise?"

"How will we be evaluated?"

"Shouldn't we start put with the basics first?"

"Is there risk of expulsion if we don't do well enough…?"

"Is it gonna be robots again?"

"Isn't-"

"Whoah, whoah, whoah, please, slow down there, children! There's only one me here!" The symbol of peace cried out, a nervous bead of sweat trailing down his face as he faced the deluge of doubts and questions that he had just been completely blindsided by. Kids hadn't been this inquisitive in his time!

Ok, All Might, don't panic, just think of this like dealing with reporters, and deflect like your life depends on it. Quick, the notes!

Pulling out the piece of paper where he had more or less desperately tried to cram all of the teaching advice and scheduling and just about everything else he could think of that he'd need, the man just straight up ignored most of the questions in favor of explaining the exercise. In one of the buildings in the training ground, a bomb had been planted by villains. The students would be paired up, and on team would work as the heroes trying to retrieve the bomb, and the other as the villains trying to defend it. Easy enough!

He almost let out a sigh of relief as his explanation seemed to satisfy most of the children.

"Alright then. Now, to determine who the teams are going to be…" Out of nowhere the hero pulled out a box. "We'll be drawing lots! Gather' round, children."

One by one, the students did just that, and as soon as everyone had their turn, their teacher reached for yet another two boxes nobody was quite sure where they'd come from, one black and one white.

"All right then, for the first round…" All Might started as he drew. "We have team A as the heroes, and team G as the villains! Who's on the hero side?"

"I'm team A." Bakugou announced, smirking smugly at the thought of playing the hero right from the start.

"Je suis team A as well." Aoyama followed with a flamboyant twirl of his cape.

"Fantastic! And the villains?"

"I think that'd be me, All Might-sensei." Yaoyoruzu replied, a contemplative look on her face.

"'N me too." Midoriya finished, grinning cheerily. All Might had little doubt the boy was ecstatic at the thought of having the first fight. A grin that only widened as he stared directly at the now glaring Bakugou. And that, that made the number 1 hero nervous.

There was some history between these two, he knew that much, but for how much Izuku referred to the explosive boy as a friend, from what little he'd seen the feeling was far from mutual. To be honest, he had the sinking feeling that letting the match go on was a bad idea, but sadly, he'd been caught in his own trap. He couldn't change the match ups now without looking like he was breaking his supposed impartiality. So, with a somewhat forced grin, the hero pushed on regardless of his misgivings.

Maybe he was overthinking it.

"Alright then! The villains will have 5 minutes to work out a strategy, get the lay of the building and set up the bomb as they wish, then the heroes will enter, and the match will begin. The rest of us will be watching from the control room. Yaoyoruzu, you're playing a villain, so try to get into the proper mindset and don't hold back. Midoriya… don't get too into it. I'll stop things from going too far, but I'd rather not deal with massive property damage on the first day. Any questions?"

Most of the students seemed to be too confused about his last statement to be asking questions, but he did notice a single hand raising.

"No, Midoriya." He immediately pre-empted. "The bomb is not real."

"Well, dat'z disappointin'." The green-haired boy said, and good lord did he look like a kicked puppy at that… "But wot I wuz gun ask wuz wot'z stoppin' buildy girl'n me from blowin' up dah bomb if it seems like we'z not winnin'."

"…Uh, that's actually a fair point." The hero conceded, honestly mildly surprised, as he brought a hand to his chin in contemplation. "In a real case scenario, villains could certainly resort to such extreme methods to reach their goal. But for the purposes of this exercise, let's just assume that the villains, meaning you two, value your lives more than the objective. Trying to damage the bomb will result in your loss."

Midoriya blinked at that, looking even more confused by the answer. "…But we'z in dah buildin' watching a tickin' bomb and tryin' tah make sure it goes boom. I mean, dat makes sense tah me, but dat'z usually a sign dat people would queshtoon it…"

"Midoriya, just accept the parameters of the exercise and get going, please." It took a valiant effort from the symbol of peace not to facepalm in front of everyone. Of all the times for the kid to choose to be self-aware…

"Aight…" The source of his headaches shrugged, before heading towards the appointed building, his teammate snapping out of her confusion at the interaction and picking up the pace to catch up.

As they went, the hero team followed, and the rest of the class followed him towards the command room, All Might couldn't help but hope he wasn't making too big of a mistake.

/

"What's bothering you, mon amie?" Aoyama took the time in between flamboyant poses to inquire from his partner as the hero duo stood by the building's entrance.

"Shut up, you damn extra." Katsuki retorted with an angry growl. Truth be told, he was pretty much always angry, but today a variety of factors had conspired to make him feel particularly aggravated. The least of all said factors being his partnership with this sparkly jackass.

"My, how rude." The other boy continued talking, having the nerve to look appalled at Katsuki's indignation with the bastard wasting his time. "I was just enquiring because we should be discussing a most brilliant strategy to apprehend the villains, non?"

And that brought to mind the most ever-present factor of them all. Fucking Deku. A thorn on his side ever since they were kids, when the damn nerd had had the gal of looking down on him despite all the ample evidence that it should be the other way around. And _then_ it turned out he'd been a late bloomer rather than a quirkless freak. If pure biology didn't disprove the notion, Katsuki would've thought he did that on purpose just to mock him.

And with his quirk, that teary-eyed cry-baby suddenly grew a spine. All of a sudden, the fucker thought they were at the same level. All of a sudden it was fucking Deku picking the fights because he thought they were "fun". All of a sudden as fast as Katsuki would knock his ass flat he was up and raring for "another go".

And despite Katsuki's best efforts to teach him his place, Deku didn't stop, did not give up. And just to add further insult, throughout the years since, gradually, so slowly Katsuki hadn't realized it until it was too late, Deku had _stopped losing_. Too often in recent times had the bastard had some trick or insane stunt at the ready to give him the upper hand, to _beat_ him, _him,_ who had been the top dog all his life, always with that cheerful, friendly grin on his face like they were the best of buds.

They were _not_ friends. Katsuki _hated_ the fucking nerd, he was a walking contradiction of everything the ashen blond believed in, a pitiful pebble that somehow became a fucking mountain standing in the way of his rightful place at the top. Katsuki did not understand Deku, and perhaps the worst insult of all, was that deep, deep down inside, in that small, weak part of him he always smothered and ignored, Katsuki would, sometimes, entertain the notion that Deku _scared_ him.

And as if all of that wasn't bad enough, someway, somehow, All Might, the idol that Katsuki has admired all his life, the goal he has dedicated body, mind and soul to surpass, somehow met _fucking Deku_ , and acknowledged _him_ as _friend?!_

That thought alone was enough to drive him to new levels of rage, the teeth-grinding sneer of fury blooming on his face making his "teammate" take a few steps back with sudden nervousness.

"Here's the plan, Sparkles." Katsuki growled. " _I_ am gonna go in, find Deku and blow his ass to kingdom come. _You_ are gonna make yourself useful, find Ponytail and the bomb, and keep her busy' till I get there to kick her ass too. _Got it?"_

Aoyama kind of wanted to ask who this "Deku" was, but even he realized that was probably a bad idea, so he just nodded nervously. Satisfied that his point had been made, Katsuki went back to stewing in his anger, waiting for the match to start, eager for a chance to vent his frustrations on the fucker that caused them.

/

"Well," Momo stated, staring up the fake bomb smack dab in the middle of the large chamber. "That's certainly conspicuous."

The girl took a moment to evaluate her options. The position somewhere in the middle floors of the building was actually pretty defensible. The door and the window made for the only two entry points, and she could easily block the latter, just in case their opponents had any ideas, though far as she knew neither Bakugou nor Aoyama had the ability of self-powered flight. And she had a few minutes to make the most of her quirk to increase the defence, so how-

"So, I'z gun get goin' now."

Momo nearly jumped at the unexpected words from her teammate, turning to the still-cheerily grinning boy. He'd been in such an oddly good mood he'd all but skipped the entire way here, but he hadn't said a word yet and she had honestly felt too awkward to talk to him.

"Excuse me?" She voiced out when his words finally sank in.

"I'z gun get goin'." The boy repeated. "Dah heroes gun' be enterin' our hideout soon. I'z gun be dere tah say hi."

"…Midoriya-san, if I may," She eventually replied, frowning slightly at her teammate's recklessness. "That seems needlessly risky. I believe the best approach would be to bunker down here. We don't need to beat them, just to outlast them."

She was mildly surprised when he nodded along to her words.

"See, between yer quirk and mine we'z culd turn this place into a roigt'n proppah fort, an' dat'd prolly work fer just about anyun else in dah class. But we'z up against ol'Katsu. He'z a ded tuff git. He'z not gun be cautious and he'z not gun let sumthin' like traps'n barricades slow'im down." He explained with a smirk that looked genuinely fond.

"If I may ask," Momo ventured hesitantly, her curiosity getting the better of her. "What's going on between the two of you? You clearly know each other."

"Katsu'n I'z been budz since we wuz wee lil'gits." Midoriya grinned.

"The way he reacted to seeing you in class didn't seem very friendly…" The girl replied dubiously. She may have some troubles with social interaction herself, but even she could tell the aggression Bakugou had been hurling at Midoriya was anything but normal.

"Oh, dat'z just Katsu bein' Katsu. Always had a temper, dat one." The boy explained dismissively. "Dah point iz, tho, dat if we let'im come anywhere near dah bomb, thingz' gun get tricky. But knowin' Katsu, he'z gun be rushin' in tah have a go against me, and I'z happy tah oblige. So I'z gun go meet him halfway, and keep'im busy with a gud scrap. Meanwhile, ya can take care o'dah sparkly boy, and we do dat till time's up. Divide'n conquer n'all dat."

Momo sort of wanted to call the boy out on just wanting to have a needless fight with his "friend", but be that as it may, she couldn't deny there was a certain logic to his plan. Bakugou was the other team's powerhouse, one she wasn't particularly looking forward to facing, and having him occupied would indeed be a viable strategy…

"Very well, Midoriya-san, I suppose we can try it your way." She relented. "I will trust you to keep Bakugou-san occupied. Meanwhile, I can rig this place to counter Aoyama-san." She could already imagine a few ways to go about it.

"Now we'z talkin'!" Her teammate cheered, clapping Momo on the back and nearly sending the taller girl tumbling forward from the unexpected contact. "And about dat, I fink I got sumthin' that can help…"

As he reached into the pouch in his apron, Momo couldn't help but feel apprehensive at the way he was grinning…

/

Back in the command room, eyes widened, and shocked gasps were given.

"Young Midoriya…" All Might spoke into the comm system, sounding less surprised and more exasperated. "This does fall into the non-lethal category, I trust?"

" _Oh, git'off me back, will ya?!"_ came the aggravated reply. " _It's just rubbah rounds, and not even a lot'o dem! It'll bruise at worst!"_

…

…

The symbol of peace let loose a long-suffering sigh. What had he been expecting, really?

"Very well, then," He conceded, then opened all four individual channels. "Ladies and gentlemen, let's get this show on the road. Match, start!"

/

"… _Match, start!"_

"Alright, Sparkles, we're going in. Stay behind me." Katsuki demanded as he made his way to the entrance. The other blond reluctantly followed, and with a slowness he honestly hadn't been expecting, the duo begun a careful search through the building.

"I must say, Monsieur." The ambiguously French boy ventured. "For how… eager you were earlier, you are acting quite cautious."

"Of course I am, dumbass." Katsuki replied in a hissed whisper, as he carefully peeked his head around a corner. "Fucking Deku had five minutes in this building with Ponytail's quirk and his own insanity. He'd probably riddled the place with fucking traps."

"…Isn't that a little paranoid? What could really be done in five minutes?" Aoyama inquired confusedly. The only answer was being locked at in a way that told him his teammate didn't have much regard for his intelligence, but the explosive boy didn't say anything else.

And so the duo went, with a quiet approach that'd ironically actually be quite fitting if this had been a real situation-

 _KAAAABBOOOOM!_

-And then the wall behind them in the large hallway they'd just crossed exploded inwards. Aoyama nearly lost his balance from the blast wave and then he did land on his ass when his partner turned and pushed him back to place himself between him and the smoking hole in the concrete, gauntleted arms raised in a combat stance.

As the dust began to settle, a figure appeared, casually walking through the debris.

"HHHEEEERRRREE'ZZZZ IZUKU!" The boy in question bellowed, grinning wildly as he looked upon the hero team. One hand was covered in his power claw, the other was holding a Stop sign of all things as a makeshift mace.

"Sparkles, get going!" Katsuki gruffly called out. "Find the bomb! Deku's mine."

"Lovin' dah enthusiasm, 'Splody boy!" Izuku grinned as he turned to stare at the sprawled boy. "I'd listen if I wuz you, Sparkly boy. Diz' gun get ruff."

Needing little further prompting, the flamboyant blond rushed away without a word, leaving the duo to their scuffle as he rushed up the stairs to the floor above.

"Finally." Izuku commented, casually clenching and unclenching his claws to ensure everything was working properly. "Been' lookin' forward tah dis, Ol'Katsu. Been a while since we'z had a scrap."

"Shut the fuck up, Deku." Katsuki growled out with vitriol. "You really think your hot shit, don't you, you damn nerd? Well, I'm gonna show you you're not, once and for all."

"Ladiez first." The green-haired boy replied cheekily, making a "come here" motion with his talons.

"DDDDEEEEEEKKKUUU!" Katsuki lunged forward with an enraged below.

"WWWWWAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!" Izuku happily bellow back as he rushed to meet the charge.

The ashen blond started his assault with a vicious right hook, and seconds before impact he let off a blast, obscuring Deku's form in a cloud of fire and smoke. The brief satisfaction of landing a blow was swiftly smothered as something came swinging at him from said cloud, the Stop sign missing his face by a hair's breadth as his opponent broke through the smokescreen, claw reaching to grab him, only to strike air as Katsuki ducked under the blow and unleashed an uppercut blast. Deku staggered backwards, but as the Katsuki tried to press the advantage the nerd recovered faster than he'd expected and lashed out with a headbutt that had the explosive blond seeing stars. Next thing Katsuki knew, steel talons had clamped around his arm, and he found himself being tossed off his feet and across the hall, landing in a rough tumble.

"Dat all' ya got, 'Splody boy?" The fucking nerd had the gal to taunt him, that _infuriatingly_ jolly grin on his face. "Yer getting' predictable."

Throwing his hands behind him, the explosive boy blasted his way back into the fray, and once again his opponent eagerly joined him.

/

As he ran through the halls, it didn't take long for Aoyama to notice a large, conspicuously open door. Taking a moment to stop and catch his breath, the boy in sparkling bright armor took a moment to listen for anything suspicious…

There, there was movement inside the room. That must be mademoiselle Yaoyoruzu. That probably meant she'd been left to guard the bomb while Midoriya came to delay them.

"Monsieur Bakugou." He whispered quietly into the comm. "I believe I've found the bomb and the other villain."

" _Then what the fuck are you waiting for, you sparkly shit?!"_ Was all his teammate said before Aoyama was forced to cut off the connection to spare himself the loud explosions going on. He tried not to be too upset at the unfortunate choice of insult.

"My word, those two are really going at it. How barbaric…" He muttered disapprovingly, as he slowly approached the door, as quietly as he could.

"Time to show how stylish a hero I can be." The teen told himself, and then he stepped out into the threshold in as stylish a pose as he could manage. "Hello there, Mademoiselle villain! I'm gonna have to ask that you surrender quietly lest we- _Sacrebleu!"_

He promptly dove back into cover as bullets filled every single bit of free space in between the door's threshold and the adjacent wall, courtesy of the four-barrelled gun turret that had been placed inside the room, right in front of the bomb.

' _Diz' mah movement triggered flakka-dakka gun!_ ' Midoriya had excitedly explained to a gawking Momo just as he'd pulled the contraption at least twice his size from the pouch and patted one of the barrels that seemed carved out of drainpipes lovingly. ' _Sadly, ain't got dat much dakka, but at hundredz'a roundz per minute it'z gonna stop any git tryin' tah get through dah door bettah than any barricade! Should give ya a few minutes tah prepare._ '

Momo had no idea how she'd been convinced to let this happen, but she had to recognize, as she watched the weapon unloading its ammo, that it certainly was working as advertised…

"I'm sorry about this!" She called out loudly, trying to make herself heard over the roaring din.

Aoyama, curled up against the wall in a state of pure terror as bullets came wheezing past him, gave no indication of having listened.

/

Katsuki was momentarily distracted by the sudden and _loud_ noise of gunfire, and it nearly cost him as Deku took the opportunity to swing the stop sign at him, clipping him on the side of the head courtesy of a last-second dodge. He immediately retaliated with a controlled blast, knocking Deku backwards and letting the momentum create even more distance between them.

"Sparkles, the fuck's going on?" He demanded through the comm as soon as he had some breathing room to shake off the dizziness, but he got no reply. "Sparkles!"

"Eh, seems like dah sparkly git found dah liddle surprise I left fer buildy girl tah use." The green-haired bastard commented idly, as he got up from the blast, looking little worse for wear, taking his eyes off Katsuki as he looked up at the ceiling. "Glad tah see it'z workin'. Been fine-tunin' it all week." He then looked down and realized the stop sign had been wrecked by the blast, and with a disgruntled expression dropped the useless "weapon". "If only I'z could use me choppa…"

Katsuki gritted his teeth in ever mounting frustration. This was not going according to plan.

Somehow, no matter how many explosions he landed on the freak, the damage was minimal. He was left singed and smoking, sure, but it hardly fucking slowed him down. What _the fuck_ was going on?!

And as if that weren't bad enough, the other fucking extra had proven useless and was now pinned down by whatever dirty stunt Deku had pulled.

" _ATTENTION!"_ All Might's voice chose that moment to make itself heard through the comms. " _Three more minutes until the exercise's over!"_

"Eh, seemz like yer runnin' out of time, 'Splody boy." Deku stated, sounding downright cheeky as he stared at him with an eager grin. "Wotchu gun do now?"

At the blatant provocation, Katsuki bristled, his expression downright murderous… then stilled, his expression becoming more neutral, but in his eyes the fury was still plain to see. That's it, he was through being mocked. He was through being looked down on by this bastard.

"You think you're fucking funny, Deku?" Katsuki growled lowly. "Think you can look down on me? That your dirty tricks and stupid gadgets make you so much _better_ than me?! Well, guess what? You're not the only one with tricks up their sleeves."

The incensed teen lifted his arm, his gauntleted palm aiming at the bastard who had the nerve to look confused. "I asked the support company to add a little something to my costume. During the fight, these gauntlets have been gathering my sweat. What do you think will happen when I let it lose all at once?"

Deku blinked at that, once, twice… Then his eyes widened in realization as the implications set in. Good, the fucker finally realized the trouble he was in. Katsuki promptly reached for the pin in the gauntlet.

" _YOUNG BAKUGOU, STOP!"_ All Might's panicked voice called out. " _WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? AN EXPLOSION LIKE THAT WILL KILL HIM!"_

Bakugou almost scoffed at the words. Give him some credit, he wasn't that stupid. He wanted to teach the bastard his place, not kill him.

"It'll only kill him if it's a direct hit!" He retorted caustically. "Even _fucking Deku isn't stupid enough not to-"_

" _WWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"_

Katsuki didn't have the time to finish explaining his reasoning before _Deku came running straight at him_ , belting out that strange bellow of his. He was so flabbergasted by the unexpected move, so caught off-guard by the sudden loudness, that before he realized what was happening, the pin came loose.

The positively _massive_ explosion that followed engulfed Deku at a near point blank range, before spreading throughout the corridor and blasting a hole on the far side of the building, completely ruining that particular section of the floor, flinging Katsuki back as the shock prevented him from bracing.

And as he staggered back to his feet, Katsuki could only stare uncomprehendingly at the damage he had wrought.

Holy shit, the gauntlets packed a bigger punch than he had expected… This hadn't really been his intention. Deku _was supposed to fucking dodge!_

…Where was Deku? He couldn't see anything through the smoke. Don't fucking tell him he actually died-

"Uh, oh wow…" A voice cut through the silence, with a low whistle of appreciation. "You'z been holdin' out on me, Ol'Katsu."

…

…

…

A faint figure could suddenly be seen stumbling through the smoke, quickly revealing itself to be Deku. Smoke wafted from his body and a thick layer of soot blackened his entire frontside, but otherwise he looked mostly unhurt.

"Gotta say tho, if dah support companies can hand out gizmos like dat, mebe I should give'em a call after all…" The boy continued, unaware of the utter shock he'd just put Katsuki through.

"You-you-" The ashen blonde stammered in stunned disbelief, although as is ever the case, that was quick to give way to rage. "WHAT _IN THE EVERLIVING FUCK_ WERE YOU THINKING, DEKU?!"

"Uh, dat dis wuz a great chance tah test out mah force field generator?" Deku replied, sounding genuinely confused by the other teen's outburst.

"…What?" Katsuki asked, the sheer bewilderment at the answer briefly knocking the wind off the sails of his anger. It was only then that he noticed, as the smoke parted around Izuku, the odd, shimmering surface that seemed to cover the nerd.

"Yah, been workin' on a way tah make'em portable." The green-haired boy elaborated, slapping his free hand to the contraption strapped to his back. "Workin' liek a charm, it iz."

…

…

"…You threw yourself _into the path of a fucking explosion FOR A FUCKING FIELD TEST!?"_ Katsuki bellowed out in outrage.

"Yep." Was the simple reply. "C'mon, Ol' Katsu, do I relly look liek a guy dat'd do dat just cuz?"

" _YES, YOU DO, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!"_

Deku opened his mouth to retort, one claw raised as if to make a point, then he faltered, seemed to consider for a bit, and then he just shrugged.

"Eh, you'z prolly roigt." He conceded the point, then reached into his pouch with his free hand. "Speakin' o' big booms tho…"

Before Katsuki could vent any more of his outrage at Deku's _sheer stupidity_ , something was tossed on the ground right in front of him. Looking down, he saw that it was a stick, attached to what seemed to be a soda can.

"Catch."

Alarms began blaring in Katsuki's head, and they went a little something like " ** _WARNING! WARNING! CODE_** **_DEKU-52 IN PROGRESS! COMMENCE SELF-DEFENESTRATION PROTOCOLS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A FUCKING DRILL!"_**

Eyes wide, without another word, Katsuki about-turned and took three running steps into a leaping dive off the window.

"…Eh, sucka." Izuku chuckled to himself, before his comm came to life. Gotta give support its due credit, they knew how to build sturdy.

" _Midoriya-san! What's happening down there! Are you alright?!"_

/

" _Juzt peachy, Buildy girl! Katsu'n I wuz juzt comparin' notes!"_ Came the jolly reply, and Momo couldn't contain a sigh of relief. " _I took'him out of dah match. Headin' yer way now to help ya with dah sparkly git."_

With that the comm was cut, and Momo was left to assess the current situation. The turret had stopped firing, whether because it had run out of bullets or because the explosion downstairs had dislodged something she couldn't really say. From a corner, a trembling Aoyama peaked into the room. "I-is it over?"

"I believe so, Aoyama-san." She replied apologetically, feeling kind of bad for the fright the other boy must've felt.

"Just what sort of a maniac is your partner, mademoiselle…?"

"…I couldn't really tell you, Aoyama-san. I only just met him yesterday." Which frankly said a lot when she couldn't find it in herself to disagree with the assessment…

"Fair point." The flamboyant teen conceded, finding the courage to actually move to enter the room. "Well then, now that your defenses are down, I think I should try to apprehend you and capture the bomb before monsieur Midoriya arrives. _En garde!"_

With an honestly impressive amount of speed and accuracy, the boy fired a bright laser beam from his navel, aimed squarely at the pony-tailed girl. Unfortunately for him, she had expected it, and immediately raised the mirror she had created for just this purpose. The beam ricocheted off the smooth surface into the far wall behind Aoyama, were it once more ricocheted from the mirrored surface she had place there beforehand and Aoyama had failed to notice, slamming into the flamboyant boy's back and sending him sprawling into the ground.

What Momo had not predicted was for the sheer number of bullet casings strewn around the floor to form a cohesive enough surface to make the staggered boy slide all the way until he was at her feet, but she decided she couldn't rightly complain about that, moving to bind his arms with the capture tape.

"Uh," A voice from behind her as she was kneeling over the defeated teen had her turning towards the entrance again, where she noticed Midoriya staring at her appreciatively. "Ya actually took care'a him before I arrived." He grinned. "Gud goin', Buildy girl."

" _TIME'S OUT! VILLAIN TEAM WINS!"_

 ** _/_**

 ** _Not gonna lie, the chapter was meant to go on a bit longer than that, but real-life time constraints forced me to end it there. The rest will be the beginning of the next one._**

 ** _Still, I hope this was an entertaining enough bit of orkyness for you guys._**

 ** _Also, if you find any inconsistencies or inaccuracies with the way Ork tech has been portrayed so far, consider them done for the sake of comedy. And refrain from sending the inquisition to my door._**

 ** _And on another note, I have received a request from a reader regarding their troubles understanding Izuku's speech. I didn't have the time to do it this time, but going forward I'll had some translations at the end of each chapter. Let it never be said I don't try to be accommodating._**

 ** _Next up, the next update to Through the Eternities, so look forward to that._**

 ** _Cya'all on the next one._**


End file.
